- Jeffrey Epstein owns two neighboring properties in the US Virgin Islands, having purchased Little St. James in 1998 and Great St. James in 2016
- He paid $18 million to purchase all 162 acres on the island from two separate parties in January 2016, and soon after began building roads, a home and a pool despite only being approved to erect a flag pole
- In 2016, he was fined $70,000 and then approximately $150,000 for violating building orders on the island, with the first violation ‘in regards to unpermitted land clearing’
- Epstein has erected ‘No Trespassing’ signs all around the island as many tourists spent time off the coast in Christmas Cove
- Work was ordered to stop on December 21 but has not according to local reports, which means that Epstein could be facing up to $2.15 million in fines and penalties
- A spokesperson with the Virgin Islands Department of Planning and Natural Resources declined to comment on the island, illegal building or Epstein’s plans
- Two Democratic fundraising committees have remained silent since Jeffrey Epstein’s arrest for alleged sex trafficking three weeks ago.
- Epstein gave more than $80,000 to the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee combined starting in the early 1990s.
- Former DNC chair Don Fowler, who was in charge of the DNC at the time of the contributions, questions why they should give away these contributions.
Three weeks after Jeffrey Epstein was arrested on child sex trafficking charges, Democratic fundraising groups have remained silent on whether they will donate or give back contributions from the wealthy financier.
Epstein started giving to these organizations just over two decades ago. He was first accused of sex crimes in the mid-2000s. When asked whether the Democratic National Committee or the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee will return or contribute these Epstein funds to a charity organization, press representatives for the groups did not respond. CNBC has reached out to the committees numerous times over the past two weeks.
Epstein gave at least $80,000 combined to the DNC and the DSCC from the late 1990s through the early 2000s, according to Federal Election Commission records. Epstein’s donations to the committees were given either directly or through Democratic joint fundraising operations, including one in part led by Hillary Clinton’s U.S. Senate exploratory committee called New York Senate 2000.
Epstein has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Don Fowler, who was DNC co-chairman from January 1995 through January 1997, questioned why the committees should give away these donations due to the checks being written decades earlier.
“Go back and give money that he gave 20 years ago? Are you nuts? That’s my answer to that,” Fowler told CNBC in an interview Wednesday.
“Maybe the RNC [Republican National Committee] should return any money that anyone gave to supporters of Richard Nixon,” he emailed later.
When asked about Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who gave $7,000 in campaign contributions from Epstein to charities, Fowler said the New York lawmaker is “one person who is completely isolated from any political threat.” He called it “a nice little symbolic gesture.”
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee saw a $10,000 donation from Epstein last year but immediately sent it back.