Visits: 10
Little St. James Island, one of the properties of financier Jeffrey Epstein, is seen in an aerial view near Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands July 21, 2019.
Marco Bello | Reuters
FBI agents on Monday were searching accused child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein’s residence in the Virgin Islands, NBC News reported, citing law enforcement officials.
News of the search on Epstein’s private island of Little St. James comes two days after the wealthy financier died from an apparent suicide while in jail in Manhattan. Sources have said that Epstein hanged himself.
And it came on the same day that Attorney General William Barr said that any co-conspirators of Epstein “should not rest easy.”
“The victims deserve justice and they will get it,” Barr said.
The FBI declined to comment. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for Manhattan, which had been prosecuting Epstein, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Associated Press reported last month that the residents of the island of St. Thomas were put off by the construction, the high security and the suspicion surrounding Epstein’s Little St. James, which is located nearby.
Some people called it “Pedophile Island,” one St. Thomas resident told the AP.
Epstein, 66, was arrested in early July on sex trafficking charges.
The former friend of Presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton faced up to 45 years in prison if convicted in the case, where prosecutors had accused Epstein of sexually exploiting dozens of underage girls, some as young as age 14, from 2002 to 2005 at his luxurious homes on the Upper East Side and Palm Beach, Florida.
Prosecutors have said Epstein’s craving for sexual massages from girls was abetted by co-conspirators who recruited victims for him.
The Justice Department’s inspector general is investigating Epstein’s death.
At the time of his death, Epstein was being held without bond. He had pleaded not guilty in the case.
Epstein was a registered sex offender, having pleaded guilty in 2008 to prostitution charges filed by Florida prosecutors related to an underage girl.