A series of pictures and videos of Jeffrey Epstein’s private island have been released by House Democrats.
The images show rooms inside the late sex offender’s Caribbean home, where he is alleged to have trafficked young girls and women for sex.
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee said the photos were being shared to “ensure public transparency”.
The images and videos show several bedrooms, bathrooms and what appears to resemble a dentist’s chair in one room with masks on the wall, as well as a landline telephone with first names written on the speed dial buttons, including Darren, Rich, Mike, Patrick and Larry.
Multiple videos capture the opulent grounds of a home resembling a luxury resort, featuring a swimming pool, palm trees, and a winding path overlooking the ocean.
One photo appears to capture a study featuring a blackboard: Scribbled on it are words like “power,” “deception,” “plots,” and “political.”
A Democratic committee aide told ITV News’ US Partner, CNN, that the photos and videos released have never been made public before, and were all taken from Little St. James Island in the US Virgin Islands. They were taken in 2020, the year after Epstein died by suicide in jail.
There are several redactions in the images of the phone and the blackboard – the aide said any women’s names were redacted out of an abundance of caution.
The release of the images comes after President Donald Trump signed into law a bill compelling the Justice Department to release the Epstein-related documents in its possession. The release of those so-called Epstein files is highly anticipated and could come in a matter of days.
“These new images are a disturbing look into the world of Jeffrey Epstein and his island. We are releasing these photos and videos to ensure public transparency in our investigation and to help piece together the full picture of Epstein’s horrific crimes,” Representative Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the oversight committee, said in a statement.
The US Virgin Islands have long been of great interest to investigators probing Epstein’s decades of abuse. He privately owned Little St James Island, sometimes nicknamed “Little St Jeff’s,” and Great St James.
Epstein frequented his homes there, and invitations were often extended to many of his powerful and wealthy friends and acquaintances. These private islands allowed Epstein to carry out his sex-trafficking ring for years out of the public eye.
Virginia Giuffre, for example, one of Epstein’s most prominent victims, alleged in her posthumous memoir that it was on one of the islands, when she was 18, that Epstein “trafficked me to a man who raped me more savagely than anyone had before.”
Both islands were purchased by billionaire investor Stephen Deckoff in 2023. Deckoff has not responded to CNN’s requests for comment about the islands.
Last month, the House Oversight Committee requested a tranche of documents from US Virgin Islands (USVI) Attorney General Gordon Rhea to further dig into Epstein’s life on the two private islands.
He allegedly leveraged his personal and business relationships to negotiate lucrative tax breaks and even pay off local law enforcement, according to the panel’s letter.
The committee wants to learn more about the USVI’s 2020 law enforcement action against Epstein and the subsequent settlements to the tune of millions of dollars.
“The Committee believes that the documents related to Mr Epstein, his estate, and the USVI litigation will aid its ongoing investigation into Mr Epstein, Ms Maxwell, and the federal government’s investigation into both individuals,” the committee’s chairman, Republican Representative James Comer, stated in his subpoena letter.
The House Oversight Committee is currently looking to expand its probe into Epstein and is searching for new targets.
The panel has so far released tens of thousands of documents, emails and communications that it received from the Epstein estate that continue to open new lines of investigative inquiry.
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