The 2023 sale of Epstein Island: price, buyer and the resort that never came

Why the islands had to be sold at all

The sale was not a free decision by the estate. It was part of a settlement. In late November 2022 the Attorney General of the U.S. Virgin Islands, Denise N. George, settled with the estate, two co-executors and several Epstein companies: $105 million in cash, half of the proceeds from the sale of Little St. James, $450,000 for environmental remediation on Great St. James, and the return of more than $80 million in economic development tax benefits ¹.

The agreement explicitly requires the estate to sell both islands to independent third parties and to wind down its business in the territory ¹.

The money is tied to a purpose. The island proceeds go into a government trust that funds counselling, services and programmes for residents who are victims of sexual assault, human trafficking and child sexual abuse ¹. The release names Little St. James as the island where Epstein lived and where many of his crimes occurred, which is why that island's proceeds were earmarked ¹.

The marketing campaign from March 2022: three firms, one package price

On 23 March 2022 a lawyer for the estate confirmed to ABC News that both islands were for sale; the Wall Street Journal had broken the story earlier that day ^13,14. The marketing went to two New York firms, The Modlin Group and Bespoke Real Estate, working with the Virgin Islands office Christie's International Real Estate The Saints ¹³.

What was offered was one package of more than 230 acres: the smaller island with a main compound, four guest villas, a helipad, two pools and three beaches, the larger one mostly untouched, with the anchorage at Christmas Cove ¹⁴. Which structure stands where is set out in the map of buildings, and the neighbouring island has its own account in Great St. James.

The lawyer also described where the money was meant to go: to the resolution of outstanding lawsuits and the regular costs of running the estate, subject to potential claims by tax authorities, creditors and other parties ¹³. Until the government's own suit was resolved, the proceeds were to sit in liened accounts ¹³.

One obstacle sat on the land itself. After filing her civil racketeering suit in early 2020, the Attorney General had placed criminal activity liens that encumbered both islands ¹³. How those cases developed is traced in the court proceedings.

The $125 million figure was contested from the start. The Wall Street Journal reported it as the upper end of what the islands might fetch, while other estimates put their value closer to $86 million ¹⁰. A year later the package sat at $110 million before it went for $60 million ³.

Who bought, and at what price

The buyer is SD Investments, an investment firm led by the financier Stephen Deckoff. The announcement of 3 May 2023 names him as the purchaser of both islands and says he has lived in the U.S. Virgin Islands for more than a decade ^4,16.

The price was $60 million for the pair, reached after several reductions and amounting to 48 percent of the original $125 million asking figure ^3,5,16,15. For comparison, Epstein had bought Little St. James alone in 1998 for $7.95 million and added Great St. James in 2016 for $22.5 million ¹⁴.

In his release the buyer spoke of bringing the region a world-class destination befitting its natural beauty ^4,7. The release said nothing about the existing buildings ⁴.

SD Investments, Black Diamond and LSJVI: the entities behind the purchase

The purchase was announced by SD Investments LLC. It is led by an investor who founded a credit and private equity asset manager in 1995, Black Diamond Capital Management ^15,20. Forbes first reported the $60 million figure, and CNBC had the buyer confirm it himself ¹⁵.

Asked what he planned to do with the islands, he declined to comment during that brief phone call ¹⁵. The press release went further, promising retained architects and engineers ⁴.

Title today sits with a different company. LSJVI, LLC, a Delaware-registered holding company, has appeared since 2026 as the owner of Little St. James in filings before the Superior Court of the Virgin Islands ^17,9. How LSJVI and SD Investments relate to each other is not set out in any of the documents published so far ¹⁷.

The holding company becomes visible mainly where strangers land on the islands. By August 2026, according to reporting that draws on a Business Insider investigation, LSJVI had sued nine people in total for trespassing, covering both islands ¹⁹. What that means for anyone curious enough to try is covered in can you visit the island.

Where the money from the sale goes

Half of the proceeds from Little St. James goes to the government of the Virgin Islands and is tied to the victims' trust ^1,3. Coverage of the sale put that share at roughly $30 million, while the buyer's release speaks of a significant portion of the proceeds ^4,15.

The arithmetic cannot be checked cleanly. Both islands were sold as one package, the settlement covers only Little St. James, and none of the sources explains how the price was split between them ^3,1.

The government has never closed that gap either. In the spending records reported on in 2026, no line item separates out the proceeds from the island sale ¹⁸.

Alongside that stand the other parts of the settlement: $105 million in cash, more than $80 million in returned tax benefits and $450,000 for environmental damage ¹. The Attorney General called it the largest monetary settlement in the territory's history ¹.

Good to knowAnyone quoting an exact figure for the trust is going beyond the sources. What is documented is a half share of one island's proceeds, not an amount.

Act 8920 and the territorial government's funds

The island share is only one part of what reached the government. In early March 2026 the territory's daily newspaper reported a running total of $178.9 million from the settlements with the estate and with an investor ¹⁸.

In October 2024 lawmakers passed a statute of their own for that money. Act 8920 creates two pots, the Southern Trust Company Settlement Fund and the Mental Health Healing Trust Fund, and sets out how $69 million of the total is to be managed and allocated to individual projects ¹⁸. The Governor had vetoed parts of the bill; senators voted to put the entire measure into law ¹⁸.

A full accounting still had not reached the Legislature by 3 March 2026. The territory's Finance Commissioner had told senators in February 2025 that $33.6 million had already gone out in unspecified vendor payments; a promised report never followed, and one senator received only a breakdown by broad categories ¹⁸.

A later spending bill amended Act 8920 and required $10.5 million of those vendor payments to be re-deposited into the fund by 30 September 2026. The Governor vetoed that section and no override followed ¹⁸. The financial side of the whole case, from the tax benefits to the settlements, is covered in money and taxes.

The resort that was meant to open in 2025

The announcement was specific: a five-star resort with 25 rooms that would create jobs and support tourism, opening in 2025 ^4,7.

The permit files show nothing of the sort. Up to February 2026 the only application by the new owner was for a warehouse; the drawings replace several small metal sheds with one semi-circular concrete building ⁶.

In March 2026 the planning department said no plans for a resort on either island had been received ⁸. In May 2026 the property side said only that there was no further comment on development at that time ⁹.

So the plan has sat on paper for three years. No withdrawal has been announced, and no resale or new listing has been reported ⁷.

In May 2026 a spokesperson for the property said the current owner and his family had never met or associated with Epstein, that the property works with law enforcement against unwanted visitors, and that there was no sign of the resort or any momentum towards it ¹².

The fight over $5.7 million in tax

On 7 July 2026 the buyer sued the territorial government in the U.S. District Court of the Virgin Islands. At stake is income tax for 2021, which he claims back as an overpayment: at least $5,757,038 ^11,7.

The core question is tax residency. The federal tax authority determined in August 2024 that he was not a bona fide resident of the Virgin Islands in 2021 and therefore owed the territory no tax on income earned outside it ^7,11.

The residency dates do not line up: the complaint says he was a bona fide resident of the territory from 2012, while the 2023 sale announcement said only that he had lived there for more than a decade ^11,16.

The territorial tax bureau had neither allowed nor disallowed the refund claim filed in November by the time of the suit, and neither the government nor the buyer's side commented publicly ¹¹. The government had until 19 October 2026 to answer ⁷.

The dispute has nothing to do with the islands themselves. It concerns the buyer's personal taxes, not the purchase, not the land and not the 2022 settlement ¹¹.