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
“The victims deserve justice and they will get it,” Barr said.
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.
U.S. financier Jeffrey Epstein appears in a photograph taken for the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services’ sex offender registry March 28, 2017 and obtained by Reuters July 10, 2019. New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services/Handout via REUTERS.
New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services | Handout | Reuters
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 of New York and in 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.
