Jeffrey Epstein Exploited the U.S. Virgin Islands for a Reason

I had to pay a student to go island hopping to find basic records in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The territory's opaque laws and corruption makes it a haven for misdeeds.

Last week, we revealed legal filings, legislative records, and other documents showing that Albert Bryan Jr., the current governor, used his position to curry favor for Jeffrey Epstein for years. He helped bestow tax exemptions on Epstein's shadowy businesses and pushed for waivers allowing the former financier to dodge USVI sex offender laws.

Bryan, whose hand-selected Attorney General swiftly ended the J.P. Morgan lawsuit that revealed a gusher of damning documents about Epstein's network, is now tapping Epstein victim settlement funds—which were touted as money to prevent future sex crimes—to pay for various earmarks and unrelated government debts. The story paints a damning portrait of the politically fragile and corruption-laden island territory, dynamics that made it the perfect escape for Epstein. He could pay local officials and law enforcement agencies to look away as he allegedly abused women on his private island.

This reporting project was unusual in other ways. In virtually every other state and territory of the United States, local campaign finance disclosures are digitized and transparent. Seeking donation records for lawmakers or governors in California, Mississippi, or Iowa? Each state maintains its own website with publicly accessible information. The U.S. Virgin Islands runs on an entirely different system, I learned.

When I requested Gov. Bryan's donation records, I discovered that the island only discloses such records to U.S. Virgin Islands residents. For a fairly exorbitant fee, the records could be viewed and photocopied in person. What's more, some records are kept at an office in a shopping mall in St. Croix, while other documents are stored at another government office in St. Thomas, making any simple request into an island-hopping journey. The documents I eventually obtained include the check above from Erika A. Kellerhals, the Epstein attorney who previously employed Del. Stacey Plaskett, to Gov. Bryan's 2018 political campaign.

I found a University of the Virgin Islands student whom I paid to help gather some of the documents I used for the story. But it wasn't easy, and certainly not affordable.

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I also want to point one thing out that was missing from our investigation last week.

As one reader, who asked to remain anonymous, pointed out, we also missed one important aspect of the story. During her heroic efforts to bring justice, former Attorney General Denise George led a series of lawsuits against Epstein's estate and former associates. Bryan fired her. In 2024, Bryan named a new Attorney General—none other than Gordon Rhea, a private practice attorney who previously defended Richard Kahn during the Epstein estate lawsuit.

Here's the Virgin Islands Daily News back in 2022:

An attorney representing one of Jeffrey Epstein’s long-time lawyers responded to V.I. Attorney General Denise George’s assertions in an emergency motion filed Friday in V.I. Superior Court, calling them “baseless and inflammatory.”

The attorney, Gordon Rhea, represents Richard Kahn, who serves as joint executor of Epstein’s estate alongside another lawyer, Darren Indyke. A wealthy sex offender, Epstein died by suicide in August 2019 while awaiting trial on child sex crimes. His estate was initially valued at over $600 million, and has paid out a combed $125 million to 150 abuse claimants who received payments from the Epstein Victims’ Compensation Fund. [...]

Rhea said in an email to The Daily News on Saturday that attorneys for Kahn and Indyke will be filing a formal response to the motion in court, but wanted to “respond right away in the press to correct any misconceptions the Attorney General might have engendered.”

“We are disappointed, but not surprised, at the recent baseless and inflammatory assertions of wrongdoing that Virgin Islands Attorney General Denise George has levied against Darren Indyke and Richard Kahn, the Co-Executors of Jeffrey Epstein’s Estate,” Rhea wrote.

Not long ago, Kahn and Indyke were described by the U.S. Virgin Islands as "indispensable captains" of Epstein's alleged criminal human trafficking enterprise, who "profited substantially" from their relationship with him. Indyke admitted in court that Epstein was so close to him that he served as the "godfather of our children." Kahn still faces a separate lawsuit from Epstein's victims. The lawsuit alleges that he "worked closely with Epstein through every step of the sex trafficking operation's expansion and growth."

We still have many unanswered questions about the Epstein saga. Who are the individuals recorded on CDs and videotapes retrieved from Epstein's homes raided by the FBI? What was Epstein's relationship with intelligence agencies, as alleged by former U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta? Why did U.S. Virgin Islands police and customs agents never act to protect the young girls they saw taken to Epstein's islands?

What is clear, however, is that an attorney who worked to protect Epstein's estate is now the chief law enforcement officer of the U.S. Virgin Islands.

First photo - image of campaign check from Erika Kellerhals to Albert Bryan Jr.’s 2018 campaign. Second photo U.S. Virgin Islands Gov. Albert Bryan with U.S. Virgin Islands Attorney General Gordon Rhea.