You might need already heard about Jeffrey Epstein’s Caribbean island, Little St. James, and its mysterious temple. Now, the Miami Herald has a report on the apparently nefarious means Epstein used to buy a second island known as Great St. James Cay. Per the report, the proprietor was determined to not promote to Epstein in gentle of Epstein’s 2008 conviction. Epstein was undeterred:
According to information examined by the Miami Herald and McClatchy, and interviews, Epstein organize an opaque restricted obligation agency, or LLC, making it appear inside the negotiations that the true proprietor was one Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, a wealthy Dubai businessman with connections to the royal family. A $22.5 million deal was labored out.
Only after the deal was consummated and work permits have been pulled did it emerge that Epstein will be the exact proprietor. It wasn’t until his July arrest, nonetheless, that he formally declared in an affidavit that he owned the second island.
Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem asserted that Epstein made the acquisition with out his permission or involvement:
Sultan is his establish, not his title — confirmed by means of an aide that Epstein had requested to utilize his establish in an unspecified enterprise bid nonetheless was suggested no.
It appears Epstein used it anyway.
And that isn’t the one island inside the data. The New York Times reports that Lebanon’s (married) billionaire prime minister gave better than $15 million to a South African bikini model. South African authorities investigated the money and deemed it taxable income. In response, the model insisted that the money was a nontaxable current. The ensuing litigation uncovered particulars referring to her relationship with the prime minister:
In an affidavit cited inside the court docket docket paperwork, Ms. van der Merwe talked about she had been recruited at age 19 to journey to an distinctive resort inside the Seychelles Islands known as The Plantation Club that was “frequented by some of the richest private individuals in the world,” along with billionaires “for whom money is no object.”
At this “playground of the super wealthy,” she talked about, “it is the norm for lavish parties and events to be held” and fashions have been flown in “to lend a sense of glamour and exclusivity.” The fashions’ passports have been taken after they arrived and they also have been forbidden from taking images.
Ms. van der Merwe spent four days on the resort in 2012, she talked about, and linked with of us she met resulting from her “healthy lifestyle” and other qualities.
(Via Tom Gara.)