Dramatic swoop as dead tycoon’s friends are told: ‘Don’t rest easy’
JEFFREY Epstein’s private island was raided by the FBI last night.
More than a dozen agents arrived on speedboats at the luxury Caribbean property – dubbed ‘Paedophile Island’.
It came only hours after highflying friends of the disgraced late financier were warned that they ‘should not rest easy’.
US Attorney General William Barr vowed the probe would continue despite Epstein’s suicide at the weekend.
A tourist filmed law enforcement officers wearing the yellow ‘FBI’ logo on their backs arriving at Little St James, the 72-acre US Virgin Island retreat Epstein bought 20 years ago.
The onlooker, who asked to remain anonymous, said: ‘We were enjoying lunch when we saw over a dozen people getting off their speedboats and landing on the island.
‘When we looked harder, we could see the FBI logo on the backs of their shirts.
‘It didn’t take long for us to realise they must be conducting a raid on Epstein’s house.’
Claims have been made that underage girls were used as sex slaves and repeatedly abused inside a temple on the island.
Meanwhile, Mr Barr vowed to continue probing the alleged sex trafficking of underage girls, despite the tycoon killing himself in jail. His comments will heap further pressure on Epstein’s close associates, including Prince Andrew, who has been accused of having sex with one of the ‘sex slaves’.
Mr Barr’s intervention comes as Ghislaine Maxwell, a former friend of Andrew’s and Epstein’s ex-girlfriend, hinted that she planned to ‘totally disappear’.
Some reports suggested the socialite daughter of the disgraced late tycoon Robert Maxwell had started to co-operate with the FBI and provide details of her alleged recruitment of girls for Epstein. Her current whereabouts are unknown.
‘She said that she planned to totally disappear and not say anything,’ a source close to Miss Maxwell said. Miss Maxwell has never been charged and has vehemently denied the allegations. Prince Andrew also denies the claims against him.
Mr Barr’s broadside came at a police event in New Orleans. He said: ‘Let me assure you that this case will continue on against anyone who was complicit with Epstein. Any co- conspirators should not rest easy. The victims deserve justice.’ Mr Barr said there would also be a full investigation into the catalogue of failures which allowed Epstein to hang himself on Saturday at the high-security prison where he was being held.
He said he was ‘appalled and angry’ at the failure to check on the 66-year- old every 30 minutes at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York. Epstein was found at 6.30am by a guard at the prison, where a series of errors allowed him to become the first suicide there in 21 years.
The day before, New York’s federal court had released 2,000 pages of damning documents. Officials said Epstein was placed on suicide watch after he tried to kill himself on July 23. But on July 29 he was taken off suicide watch and returned to the 9 South special housing unit, which has less stringent security. Last night it emerged that Epstein was not checked on for ‘several hours’ and one of his guards was not even a trained prison officer. Serene Gregg, of the American Federation of Government Employees, said the prison is operating with inadequate staffing. She said: ‘It was only a matter of time for it to happen. It was inevitable, because of the conditions at that institution.’
Although officials believe Epstein killed himself, the results of his post- mortem examination have been delayed – a move bound to fuel conspiracy theories that his associates may be implicated in his death.
If Epstein’s death is ruled a suicide after an autopsy, his family could pursue a claim for wrongful death because he was in the custody of the state. Victims of the financier’s alleged sex trafficking ring are also planning to sue his estate.
Former employees of Epstein closed ranks yesterday. One told the Mail that he ‘saw nothing that was of concern’ while working as an interior designer for him. Another hung up. A separate document released by the US courts last week suggested Princes William and Harry may have met Epstein when they were children.
Epstein’s former maintenance man at his Palm Beach mansion, Juan Alessi, said he had met ‘Princess Diana’s secretary with her children’. But Diana’s ex- secretary Patrick Jephson told the Sun: ‘I can’t think of any occasion when Mr Epstein would have any claim to say he had given hospitality to the Princess of Wales.’
‘The victims deserve justice’