A new investigation from WIRED has uncovered the cell data of about 200 phones on record as having traveled to Little St. James, the private island once owned by disgraced billionaire and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
The data show a string of “pings” to the island in the years leading up to Epstein’s death as well as a pings back to locations presumed to be the owners’ homes and offices, starting as early as July 2016 and ending on July 6th, 2019, the day of Epstein’s arrest.
The 11,279 coordinates were collected by Near Intelligence, a broker of information data. WIRED came across maps made by the broker, which reveal the precise travel points and the full-time residences of the wealthy individuals who visited the island, as well as the specific areas of the island they visited. The information proves that the island experienced very high traffic.
Over 160 locations in the United States—not only on the coasts but various parts of the heartlands—were shown in the data, as were cities in Ukraine, the Cayman Islands, and Australia, among others. WIRED notes that the European Union has strict privacy laws, which likely explains why European countries were not shown in the coordinates.
Over 80 cities appeared in the coordinates, with the states of Florida, Massachusetts, Texas, Michigan, and New York ranking the highest on the list. The phones were traced back to mansions in gated communities in Michigan and Florida, properties in Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, a Miami nightclub, and the sidewalk across the street from Trump Tower on 5th Avenue, New York City.
The coordinates also led back to Epstein’s various other properties, including his ranch in New Mexico and his waterfront property in Palm Beach, where attorneys claim Epstein trafficked minors.
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The data also showed points nearby Little St. James that the suspects visited, including the Ritz-Carlton hotel on St. Thomas Island and a dock at the American Yacht Harbor, a marina of colossal party boats that was once co-owned by Epstein.
Near Intelligence takes data from advertising exchanges that pull locations from phones that access the web and apps, analyze it, and sell it. The company has reportedly come under fire for allegations of fraud and mismanagement and is linked to the defense industry.
Details about Epstein’s Little St. James operation and the acts done by the others who participated in the ring were revealed in a January 2020 court complaint filed by the Government of the United States Virgin Islands.
“The Epstein Enterprise used its aircrafts to transport the young women and underage girls to the Virgin Islands for purposes of sexual abuse and exploitation,” the court filing from the District Attorney of the Virgin Islands reads. “The Epstein Enterprise facilitated and participated in the sexual molestation and exploitation of numerous girls between the age of 12 and 17 years old.”
The filing goes on to say that “associates” of the so-called “Epstein Enterprise” recruited the victims as well as the abusers, who “participated in sexual acts of rape and abuse of minors,” and witnessed Epstein and others do the same.
The filing says these acts continued to happen “through 2018” and notes that Epstein never denied engaging in exploitative acts with minors but repeatedly invoked the Fifth Amendment. It also emphasizes that Epstein “preyed on [the underage girls’] financial and other vulnerabilities, and promised victims money, shelter, gifts, employment, tuition and other items of value.” It indicts “participants” other than Epstein in this as well, saying they “targeted young and underage females under the pretext that they would be paid substantially merely to provide massages to him and others” before they abused them.
The filing also claims the participants trapped the girls into the trafficking ring by “confiscating passports, controlling and extinguishing external communications, and threatening violence,” while forcing them to recruit other minors.
It has long been speculated that Epstein’s sex trafficking ring served the dual purpose of blackmail ring, with the hundreds of video cameras found in Epstein’s properties believed to have recorded the sexual acts to incriminate and sully the reputations of various heads of state and capitalists across the globe. To avoid this fate, the theory goes, these high-profile individuals were then ordered to do favors for and meet the demands of Epstein or the unknown, shadowy figures backing him.
Some have drawn connections between Epstein and Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, due to the documented fact that his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell’s father Robert Maxwell served as a spy for the entity. He also had ties to Britain’s MI6 and the Soviet Union’s KGB. Furthermore, a DOJ investigation into its own 2008 prosecution of Epstein found that the FBI’s planned arrest of Epstein was obstructed by the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, at the time led by Alexander Acosta, because of Epstein’s bizarre and unexplained status as a federal informant.
When Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse was raided by federal agents, they discovered—besides child pornography—“dozens of diamonds” and an expired passport with Epstein’s face but a different name, listing his home country as Saudi Arabia.
As Valuetainment reported in February, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill permitting the release of state grand jury documents related to the 2006 Florida investigation into Epstein. To celebrate the bill, HB 117, DeSantis was joined by two Epstein victims as he signed it into law in Palm Beach, near the site of much of Epstein’s sexual exploitation.
“The public deserves to know who participated in Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking,” said DeSantis. “Nobody should be protected from facing justice due to their wealth or status, and those who harm children should be exposed and punished to the fullest extent of the law.”
The bill will take effect on July 1st, 2024, after which point the grand jury documents pertaining to the 2006 investigation into Epstein, which charged him with “unlawful sexual activity with a minor” and “lewd or lascivious molestation,” can be released. Instead of directly charging Epstein, the State Attorney at the time decided to present evidence to a grand jury. This protected the identities of those involved and the details of the case sealed from public view.
The legislation will also permit the release of any grand jury testimony as long as “the subject of the grand jury inquiry is dead,” “The investigation was about sexual activity with a minor,” “The testimony was previously disclosed by a court order,” and “The state attorney is notified.”
Shane Devine is a writer covering politics, business, and culture for Valuetainment. Follow Shane’s work here.
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