Epstein Island's New Owner Is Turning It Into a Luxury Resort

Jeffrey Epstein bought two of the Virgin Islands — Little St. James and Great St. James — in 1998 for $8 million. Since then, Little St. James, the island he developed, has been colloquially dubbed "Epstein Island" and "Pedophile Island" due to the stories of sex trafficking and abuse of young girls that happened there.

In early December 2025, the House Oversight Committee released never-before-seen photos and videos of the island that painted an eerie picture of some of what went on there. Those photos seem to have been taken in 2020, though, according to the BBC. So, what is going on with the island now?

In 2023, Google Earth photos showed that Epstein's compound, swimming pools, tennis courts, helipad, and guest villas were still intact, per Newsweek.

In May of 2023, the Epstein estate sold Little St. James and Great St. James to Stephen Deckoff for $60 million. They agreed to give a portion of the sale, as well as at least $105 million to the Virgin Islands, in a settlement.

Deckoff plans to build a 25-room luxury resort on the property and was "tremendously pleased to be able to bring the area a world-class destination benefiting its natural grace and beauty," per Bloomberg. He continued, "I very much look forward to working with the U.S. Virgin Islands to make this dream a reality."

He said that he'd never met Epstein and didn't go to the islands until they were on the market.

He is apparently renovating the property instead of tearing down the buildings where the abuse took place.

Just one of the creepy elements on Epstein Island that garnered conspiracy theories was a blue and white striped building near the shore that had been painted to look like a temple. In early 2024, the New York Post reported that the "temple" was still there, but it had been painted over, and is now all white. Deckoff added an outdoor patio and a fire pit.

The 25-room resort is in the process of being built, and it appears that one of Epstein's pools is going to be central to the new hotel. Photos show inflatable swans floating in the pool, per the New York Post.

Thanks to the House Oversight Committee, the public got an idea of what some of Epstein's island looked like in 2020. The photos showed bedrooms, bathrooms, and palm trees next to a pool. Other photos left more questions than answers, such as a room with what looks like a dental chair in the center, and masks hung on the walls.

There is also a photo of a phone with redacted names next to speed-dial buttons and a room with chairs and a chalkboard that has several redacted words next to the words "power," "deception," "music," and "truth" scrawled in chalk.

Congressman Robert Garcia wrote, on X (formerly known as Twitter), "These images are a disturbing look into the world of Jeffrey Epstein. We have released these photos and videos to ensure public transparency in our investigation. It’s hard to imagine the horrors that happened in these rooms."