Jeffrey Epstein & Ghislaine Maxwell: the whole story so far

[bojancan]

https://www.leefang.com/p/jeffrey-ep...k-legacy-still

Jeffrey Epstein's Dark Legacy Still Clouds the Virgin Islands

Legal settlements maintained secrecy for Epstein's affairs in exchange for money to counter sex abuse. Local USVI politicians are now tapping the funds for earmarks.
LEE FANG
MAY 21, 2025


This investigation was reported in collaboration with RealClearInvestigations.

When Jeffrey Epstein purchased Little Saint James, the teardrop-shaped island south‑east of St. Thomas, in the late 1990s, he was seen as a mere oddity. A one-time math teacher who claimed to manage the fortunes of billionaires, he told U.S. Virgin Islands officials that he was seeking privacy. He also appears to have purchased impunity.

The alleged crimes that Epstein committed on that emerald island reachable only by helicopter or ferry would explode into an international scandal. Investigators accuse him of raping and sexually abusing girls as young as eleven at his island compound where he also hosted many A-list politicians, business leaders and celebrities. One 15-year-old, whom Epstein allegedly forced into sex acts, attempted to escape by swimming away from the island. She was caught and her passport was taken away.

While Epstein was alive, Virgin Islands officials appear to have shielded him from scrutiny – customs agents at the airport, for example, reported seeing Epstein leave his plane with girls between the ages of 11 and 17, yet there is no record that anyone checked on their safety.

After his death in 2019, other officials who aided Epstein began profiting from continued secrecy and a string of legal settlements associated with his behavior that put hundreds of millions of dollars under the government’s control. No one appears to have benefited more than Albert Bryan Jr., the governor of the territory. Court records show that Bryan had previously overseen the agency that granted nearly $300 million in illicit tax credits to Epstein’s company, which fraudulently claimed to provide “biomedical and financial informatics” services. Bryan, after securing a gubernatorial victory in 2018 with the support of Epstein and his aides, would later push for a waiver for Epstein to avoid compliance with the island’s sex offender laws.

Bryan fired the attorney general who led the island’s cases against Epstein’s estate, and his appointed successor ended an explosive case over J.P. Morgan Chase’s ties to the former financier before a new round of discovery.

Over the last few months, legislative records show, Bryan has tapped the Epstein settlement funds to pay for a variety of his domestic political agenda items. The money was secured from Epstein’s estate and his associates, including the case with J.P. Morgan Chase and a close financial supporter, private billionaire Leon Black, who was also accused of abusing women. The settlements, which collectively account for nearly a quarter of a billion dollars, were championed as a measure of accountability, and the proceeds were promised to assist victims of sexual assault, human trafficking, sexual misconduct, and child sexual abuse.

In late April, Bryan, at his weekly briefing at the Government House on St. Thomas, announced the allocation of $22 million in retroactive wages to government workers, a move his office touted as strengthening public trust. "This is real money – money in the bank," Bryan boasted. Left unmentioned was the source – the Epstein settlement money...

Earlier this year, Bryan applied the Epstein funds for vendor payments and sought to use the money for a variety of other earmarks, such as a $25 million makeover for the Justice Building on St. Croix. The lack of transparency around the funds has faced scrutiny from legislators and some Virgin Islands residents.

The total amount remaining in the Epstein settlement fund is not clear. Motley Rice, a private law firm that assisted the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) Justice Department with the cases, is projected to receive about $23.35 million of the settlement as its share of the fees.

“We have a situation where some of the monies might have been spent, even though they were appropriated for specific purposes,” said USVI Senator Alma Francis Heyliger. “The legislature did not give approval for this.”

In a letter posted online last year, David Silverman, a retiree living in St. John, stated, “This money was promised to be used to protect vulnerable young women, among other things. But for reasons that nobody can explain, the money is nowhere to be found.”

The U.S. Department of Justice maintains oversight of the USVI, a jurisdiction that has been plagued by corruption. In recent years, FBI agents have raided territory agencies over the mismanagement of public money. In June 2024, several senior USVI officials were charged with defrauding $4 million in housing funds. The FBI declined to comment on whether it is investigating the USVI's use of Epstein settlement funds.

The Bryan administration did not respond to a request for comment.

Questions continue to swirl over the Epstein secrets still buried in government vaults. The much-hyped Trump administration release of files related to the Epstein case quickly turned to disappointment in February as the government distributed binders with no new information. Attorney General Pam Bondi, in response to criticism of the fizzled press event, has said she is still pushing for the release of more files held by the FBI and her department.

While attention still focuses on the 256,000 square-foot warehouse in Winchester, Virginia, where unreleased FBI records, including CDs, hard drives, and recordings from Epstein’s homes, are still held, the Virgin Islands side of the story remains unresolved. The tropical territory remains one of the last redoubts of intrigue related to the scandal.

The island territory was the nexus for Epstein’s alleged human trafficking operation. It was there that Epstein entertained his VIP rolodex of guests and is believed to have engaged in some of his worst sexual crimes.

The abrupt settlement with J.P. Morgan Chase prevented the release of more disclosures about the nature of Epstein’s network, including documents and depositions from key figures who aided and abetted the former financier.

The U.S. Virgin Islands government and JPMorgan Chase both denied claims of complicity in Epstein's abuses. In a previous statement to reporters, the bank claimed it “would never have continued to do business with him if we believed he was using our bank in any way to help commit heinous crimes.”

Nearly two years ago, Bryan shut off the valve of a smattering of unflattering documents released as part of the island territory’s lawsuit with J.P. Morgan. After initially seeking $190 million from the bank for its role in aiding Epstein’s operations, Bryan shocked observers by firing his own attorney general and reportedly pushed to end the lawsuit.

The initial 2022 lawsuit charged that J.P. Morgan had “turned a blind eye” to clear evidence that Epstein had used the bank to facilitate his sex trafficking operations. USVI claimed in court that it had uncovered evidence that J.P. Morgan officials had repeatedly raised red flags about Epstein, who maintained around 55 accounts and routinely referred his network to the bank’s wealth management services. Meanwhile, J.P. Morgan executives joked over email about his interest in young girls.

But the bank hit back with a countersuit and filed hundreds of documents, exhibits, and emails alleging “a decades-long quid pro quo between Epstein and the USVI government.” The legal probe revealed the former financier’s extensive system of alleged bribes and influence payments to USVI officials – money, J.P. Morgan’s lawyers claimed, that “created a haven for Epstein’s criminal activity.”

These records show that Epstein placed the former first lady of the island, Cecile de Jongh, on his payroll. She suggested campaign donations and targeted gifts to universities, civic groups, and the families of powerful politicians. The gifts appear to have helped Epstein win special benefits, including visas to bring young girls to the island and $300 million in illicit tax exemptions for his fraudulently registered information technology company.

J.P. Morgan's attorney filed documents with the court charging that de Jongh suggested Epstein pay monthly retainers to local politicians, including former USVI Senator Celestino White, to gain “loyalty and access.” The records showed he also gave free Thanksgiving turkeys to 78 federal customs agents at the St. Thomas airport after dealing with one “difficult” officer.

The ties extended to the governor and the territory’s representative in Congress, the incumbent lawmaker Stacey Plaskett. In his previous role as head of the economic development office, Bryan signed off on a string of tax exemptions for Epstein’s Southern Trust business entity. At the time, Plaskett served as counsel to the tax office.

Plaskett went on to work at Kellerhals Ferguson Kroblin PLLC, a USVI law firm Epstein retained for tax and legal issues. In 2014, as Plaskett geared up to run for Congress, de Jongh advised Epstein to support her bid against a popular local politician, Shawn-Michael Malone. “Shawn is the one who came after you in the senate hearing last week. He is nasty and needs to be defeated and we have a friend in Stacey,” de Jongh wrote in an email uncovered by J.P. Morgan’s attorneys.

During the election, Epstein’s closest aides and advisers, including Darren Indyke, Lesley Groff, and Erica Kellerhals, donated to Plaskett, helping her defeat Malone by just 737 votes in what local press called “one of the biggest upsets in Virgin Island politics.” De Jongh wrote to Epstein to confirm that a $13,000 corporate donation planned for the Democratic Party would be made “for the benefit of Stacey Plaskett.”

Epstein repeatedly donated to Plaskett’s campaign committees until his suicide in a New York City prison cell in 2019. In an email made public by the litigation, Plaskett wrote to Kellerhals and Lesley Groff, another Epstein aide who reportedly helped him recruit young women, to request the financier’s fundraising assistance. She also met with him at his New York City home in a bid to request larger donations to the DCCC, the House Democrats’ campaign arm.

Plaskett did not respond to a request for comment. In March, a federal judge in New York ruled that Plaskett will continue to serve as the sole defendant in a case brought by multiple victims of Epstein. The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act case charges that USVI officials conspired with Epstein to sustain his sex-trafficking scheme.

The case relies on much of the evidence that the J.P. Morgan countersuit uncovered nearly two years ago.

The Epstein network also helped to elect Bryan governor. Kellerhals, campaign finance disclosures exclusively obtained by RealClearInvestigations show, donated $1,000. Records from the J.P. Morgan litigation provide further evidence of support, including an email from de Jongh suggesting $25,000 to an inauguration party in Bryan’s honor and a reminder that Bryan had requested $30,000 in support for the USVI Little League.

Bryan, as governor, requested that the USVI Justice Department provide Epstein with a waiver for the territory’s sex offender registry. Epstein’s legal requests for special exemptions to the law, notably, were facilitated by Kellerhals.

“Not every sexual offender or any person, you know, are in the position to have the governor make the request to the attorney general … that by itself indicated to me that [Epstein] was flexing his political influence over or with the governor,” Denise George, a former USVI attorney general said in a deposition she gave as part of the JPMorgan lawsuit.

Bryan, in a deposition with J.P. Morgan’s attorneys, dismissed concerns about Epstein’s operations in the USVI. He said he was only aware that “he copped a plea to having sex with a hooker who was under age,” a reference to Epstein’s 2008 conviction over child prostitution.

On New Year’s Eve 2022, Bryan unexpectedly fired Denise George, the attorney general responsible for the J.P. Morgan lawsuit and the island’s landmark case against the Epstein estate. George had previously opposed Bryan’s requests for a waiver for Epstein to get around the island’s sex offender laws.

As the litigation continued to mount, J.P. Morgan’s attorneys threatened more discovery and depositions of USVI officials. In a filing to the court in September 2023, they argued that they planned greater investigations of a host of USVI’s elite, including Bryan and Plaskett.

A few weeks after the filing, USVI announced its settlement, agreeing to end its case in exchange for $75 million, an amount far below the initial amount sought by the lawsuit.

The sudden end to the case closed the rare window of disclosure into Epstein’s private power structure and the ways in which he carried out his political operation.

Some lawmakers and island residents believe secrets from the Epstein scandal are still hidden. The J.P. Morgan case proved too harmful for the USVI elite as it exposed embarrassing documents on all sides.


https://www.leefang.com/p/jeffrey-ep...k-legacy-still

Glenn Greenwald
403K subscribers

More Epstein SCANDALS Revealed: With Lee Fang

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=6i9ZRorksp0

[Mike]

Dan Bongino promises to show video proving Epstein killed himself:

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=LxKymjt0r9Q

[onawah]

Forty pages later on this thread the factor that is still largely ignored and unresolved.

Posted by onawah (here)
For me, the worst part of the whole Epstein suicide hoax is that the corpse in the photo of what was supposedly Epstein's corpse was demonstrably not his corpse (different ear, different nose), and the photo was obviously photoshopped because the size of the head was way out of proportion to the rest of the photo.

It's baffling to me that so many people researching this case, even here on Avalon, seem not to have taken this into account or to have discounted it, when it seems glaringly obvious to me that there is a huge discrepancy here, though only one of many, of course.

Photo of the late star of PBS travel show, Anthony Bourdain:


There were rumors that Bourdain was about to go public with something the elite did not want to be known, and was "suicided".
And using the photo of his corpse in what was supposedly the photo of Epstein's corpse was meant to send a message to would-be whistleblowers.

[Mike]

Nat check out my post above...looks like we're going to get video evidence of Epstein's suicide.

[onawah]

I'm not holding my breath.

Posted by Mike (here)
Nat check out my post above...looks like we're going to get video evidence of Epstein's suicide.

[SilentFeathers]

Posted by Mike (here)
Dan Bongino promises to show video proving Epstein killed himself:

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=LxKymjt0r9Q

I highly doubt the video will prove anything, especially that Epstein actually killed himself. The video would actually have to show Epstein actually physically killing himself to prove that he killed himself.

A short clip of him in his cell alone doesn't prove diddly-squat!

Side note/prediction: Dan Bongino will soon leave the FBI and return to doing his Podcasts again.

[Mike]

Posted by SilentFeathers (here)

Posted by Mike (here)
Dan Bongino promises to show video proving Epstein killed himself:

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=LxKymjt0r9Q

I highly doubt the video will prove anything, especially that Epstein actually killed himself. The video would actually have to show Epstein actually physically killing himself to prove that he killed himself.

A short clip of him in his cell alone doesn't prove diddly-squat!

Side note/prediction: Dan Bongino will soon leave the FBI and return to doing his Podcasts again.

I'll push back on that respectfully. I think Bongini is a good man and a man of principle. If he says we'll see Epstein kill himself, I think we'll see it.

Regardless it'll be interesting to see all this unfold.

[SilentFeathers]

Posted by Mike (here)

Posted by SilentFeathers (here)

Posted by Mike (here)
Dan Bongino promises to show video proving Epstein killed himself:

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=LxKymjt0r9Q

I highly doubt the video will prove anything, especially that Epstein actually killed himself. The video would actually have to show Epstein actually physically killing himself to prove that he killed himself.

A short clip of him in his cell alone doesn't prove diddly-squat!

Side note/prediction: Dan Bongino will soon leave the FBI and return to doing his Podcasts again.

I'll push back on that respectfully. I think Bongini is a good man and a man of principle. If he says we'll see Epstein kill himself, I think we'll see it.

Regardless it'll be interesting to see all this unfold.

I also believe Bongino is a good man and is highly respectable.

I think he's realizing he walked right in to a raging hornets nest and made a huge mistake. I think he's caught between a rock and a hard place with this Epstein crap and I personally highly doubt the video will prove anything other than showing Epstein sitting in his cell alone.

It's a gut instinct I have and believe he will walk away from the FBI soon. I can see the total disgust on his face in almost every interview.

[ExomatrixTV]

• Musk Drops BOMB: "Trump Is In The Epstein Files":

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=EaU2qUR2H34

Elon Musk has accused Donald Trump of being on the Epstein List, now what?

source

source

[Mark (Star Mariner)]

Just leaving this here:

https://x.com/AwakenedOutlaw/status/1930847756408721546
AwakenedOutlaw⚒️
@AwakenedOutlaw
I'm still waiting on someone to explain to me why the Democrats, the same greasy bastards who have stopped at NOTHING to nail Trump to the wall for ten MTHFKN years straight, would sit on evidence that tied Trump to illegal activities on Epstein Island.

C'mon, man. 😆

https://x.com/SchoenDavid/status/1930801003114152120
David Schoen
@SchoenDavid
I was hired to lead Jeffrey Epstein’s defense as his criminal lawyer 9 days before he died. He sought my advice for months before that. I can say authoritatively, unequivocally, and definitively that he had no information to hurt President Trump. I specifically asked him!

[Jaak]

Patel seems to be full of crap . Expect nothing new to come out and nobody else to go to prison.
6 years later they are still looking at evidence and not finding anything... Zionists investigate themselves and find nothing.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=hVlCUzbxtoE

[seehas]

Posted by Jaak (here)
Patel seems to be full of crap . Expect nothing new to come out and nobody else to go to prison.
6 years later they are still looking at evidence and not finding anything... Zionists investigate themselves and find nothing.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=hVlCUzbxtoE

I love the part when he said "No, but i have a different background" - Yeah because he is part of the "CLUB". And i cant help but every time i see this guy i get a strong sense of someone with a very heavy weight on their shoulders, one wrong word and he might end up "suicided".

Im not a expert in body language but he seems to be very nervous and stressed out. The whole energy field is screaming "FEAR" and that tells the story for who he is working for.

When i look at the interview with my intuition i read the following between the lines:

- There are videos in the epstein case that not even he has access to.

- He was told for reasons of national security this material needs to remain locked.

- He emotionaly separates the suicide video from the recordings on the island. (This seems to be something entirely different for him, kind of a project that gives him motivation because he belives to be involved.)

- "We" are working/manufacturing a video showing the suicide of eppstein and this will be released to the public.

- He is excited to finally be able to deliver a video to the people.

- There seems to be something like a third party involved. This third party is in possession of important evidence and this poses a threat to national security.

- They are not in control of the situation because of the third party involvement.

[Jaak]

[SilentFeathers]

Epstein alive and in the witness protection program???????

Well, anything's possible.....

https://x.com/realchasegeiser/status/

I have reason to believe that the new Epstein video about to be released by the FBI is 'Epstein's' body being removed from his cell.

It seems Kash and Bongino were made aware that Jeffrey Epstein is in witness protection.

This explains why the video of him killing himself doesn't exist, and why the FBI is now claiming new video will be released.

This explains why Kash and Bongino have had such a troubling and perplexing take on Epstein since taking their positions at the FBI.

This explains why it's taking so long to release the files.

[Jim_Duyer]

If we are going to explore the "whole story", we should look at the financial aspect as well. When the BCIE bank scandal closed that outlet, and Panama was beginning to first come under scrutiny, along with the Islands, Epstein steps in. He was laundering the money for military and political leaders world wide. {under the guidance of Mossad].

So, even those who did not touch the children (like, perhaps Trumpo), will still be under threat due to the exposure of their money being laundered.

We are speaking of absolutely huge sums here, and of course, it would be Anti-Semitic to question large undeclared deposits when made by Israel, right? And I'm fairly confident we will find the Trumps fingerprints on those ledger sheets, along with most of the Congress that has hidden their CCP gains and others.

Long ago, I paid a legal firm in England a good sum of money to discover how the rich move funds. They suggested the way Congress does it - in fact, they helped draft the Bills that included the provisions for it, at the request of Congress itself. It was tacked on to some huge farm bill and it changed the definition of a retirement program linked to Insurance to include all term periods and allowed for them to be offshore as well.
The result was, they purchased, for cash transfer, millions of dollars in "retirement" policies, which they proceeded to cash in some weeks later and the sums were then deposited in overseas banks.
Money gone, looks like 401K, no trail, no reports. Clean as a whistle.

So yes, the Congress and others have been doing this for perhaps a hundred or more years. When those loopholes closed, other doors opened.
Now they use USAID to do something similar.
The Condos on Miami beach are owned by politicians in Central and South America.
The Condos in Europe are owned by politicians in America and Canada. See how it works/

[ExomatrixTV]

• Kash Patel On Joe Rogan’s Podcast Questioned About Epstein:

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=C6khbb2zCNg

[ExomatrixTV]

source

source

[ExomatrixTV]

• Bret Weinstein on the Evolving Story of Jeffrey Epstein

Full Episode: youtube.com/live/Gh2Yi0tFhsk Jeffrey Epstein apparently did kill himself after all. Or did he?

[edina]

This is circulating on X at the moment ...

https://x.com/PastorBobJ11071/status...36480923328618

It contradicts what we've been hearing lately. It may be helpful to be aware of this and to observe what's coming out later, if this turns out to be legit.

I haven't been actively following this thread for a while now. If this has been posted here already before, apologies in advance. The above X post is dated today.

[Tintin]

Posted by edina (here)
This is circulating on X at the moment ...

https://x.com/PastorBobJ11071/status...36480923328618

It contradicts what we've been hearing lately. It may be helpful to be aware of this and to observe what's coming out later, if this turns out to be legit.

I haven't been actively following this thread for a while now. If this has been posted here already before, apologies in advance. The above X post is dated today.

Thanks

I listened to the first minute of this - it sounds fake. Also I do not trust 'The People's Voice' or the annoying monosyllabic Sean Hughes either; I am as certain can be this is clickbait.

According to some commentary on the thread it's been suggested that the voice pattern doesn't match with on-the-record examples of Virginia Guiffre clearly recorded in interviews; this is an AI fake.

Please ignore this