Jeffrey Epstein’s estate to pay up $105m to US Virgin Islands government in settlement
Jeffrey Epstein’s estate has agreed a payout to settle claims that the disgraced financier used the US Virgin Islands for his decades-long trafficking operation under the guise of running a financial advisory firm.
The settlement of up to $105m (£87m), comes after a lawsuit brought by the Attorney General of the territory, reports the New York Times.
Epstein’s estate has agreed to repay more than $80m (£66m) in tax benefits that one of his companies had accrued, reported the paper.
The settlement also allows the government to take half the proceeds from the estate’s planned sale of Epstein’s private island, Little Saint James.
Under the terms of the agreement, half the proceeds from the sale will go towards providing counseling and other social services for victims of sexual abuse.
The territory’s Attorney General had argued that it was deceived into granting tax advantages to Epstein’s company, which allowed him to use his private island residence to sexually abuse young women.
In a statement, Ms George said: “At the very start of the case, I was so honored to have met three very courageous young women who were trafficked and sexually exploited on Little St. James.
“Our work has been inspired, humbled and fortified by the strength and courage of all of those who survived Epstein’s abuse.”
However, the estate did not admit any wrongdoing in the settlement.
In August 2019, Epstein was found dead in his cell at a federal jail in Manhattan while he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges.
His death was ruled a suicide.
It came more than a decade after his conviction for soliciting prostitution from girls under the age of 18, and he was also accused of running a large network of underage girls for sex, to which he pleaded not guilty.
His associate, the British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, was jailed for 20 years in the US earlier this year for luring young girls to massage rooms for him between 1994 and 2004.
