Beyond The Horizon
ICYMI: Julie K. Brown Unloads On The USVI For Their Relationship With Jeffrey Epstein (Part 2)
Finally! Finally someone else is talking about the USVI and their obvious Epstein ties. For years we have been banging this drum on this podcast and finally the legacy media has picked up on it and hopefully now that Julie K. Brown's comprehensive piece has hit the wire, perhaps more people will finally start to understand the true scope of what went down.
In this episode we begin our dive into the article and the discussion about the United States Virgin Islands complicity in Epstein's crimes.
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to contact me:
bobbycapucci@protonmail.com
source:
U.S. Virgin Islands profiting from Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes | Miami Herald
- Duration:
- 28m
- Broadcast on:
- 13 Jul 2024
- Audio Format:
- mp3
clean. Back to the Epstein Chronicles. In this episode, we're going to pick back up where we left off with the Julie K. Brown article from the Miami Herald. So, let's just get right to it. In one instance, cited in the lawsuit, Cecile De Jong arranged for three young women from Europe to get student visas to enroll in a class at the University of the Virgin Islands. Ultimately, the University structured a bespoke class to enroll victims and provide cover for their presence in the territory. The same year Epstein donated $20,000 to the University through one of the companies. JP Morgan said in a court filing, "Again, all stuff we were hip too. Now I'm glad it's all coming out now in Julie K. Brown's article and maybe people have started taking it seriously." Cecile De Jong also steered Epstein's money to her husband's preferred candidates according to the lawsuit. In 2014, when her husband was still in office, she wrote to Epstein about a political contribution he had given to the campaign of Kenneth Mapp, who was running to succeed her husband as governor. The Mapp campaign is going to take that money that you gave to attack John. Can we stop payment on the check to send a message? She said, according to the lawsuit, in 2016, Epstein emailed Cecile asking her, "How did our candidates do?" She replied that they had all won their races. Emails also show that she directed the payments from Epstein's companies be made to political action committees that benefited candidates. In 2018, she directed another Epstein employee to cut a check for $25,000 to a pack named Islands Engaged Incorporated. And we're not talking about ancient history here, folks. We're talking about 2018, 2016. But she learned her lesson, right? Give me a break. How much money did her and her husband profit from the backs of these young women who were being trafficked? That's the question we should all be asking ourselves. The former first lady also went to great lengths to help Epstein to get special privileges as a sex offender. Emails contained in exhibits with the case show that she worked with lawmakers to water down a new and more restrictive sex offender law in 2011. She showed Epstein a draft of the law writing, "Will this work for you?" He and his lawyers suggested changes that would give him more freedom. While Epstein's changes were eventually dropped from the law, officials nevertheless worked on finding a loophole for Epstein, according to the lawsuit. Cecile promised she would continue to influence lawmakers as well as her husband's attorney general, Vincent Frazier. "Oh, loopholes and technicalities. I wonder where we've heard that before." We will figure something out by coming up with a game plan to get around these obstacles. She wrote in July of 2012, adding later, "We will work with Vincent to give the discretion for status quo for you. That's the least he can do." Frazier ultimately issued a waiver that allowed Epstein to travel with fewer restrictions. But it's all JP Morgan's fault, huh? JP Morgan the bank, who is liable from a financial aspect, but it's all their fault? Everything that happened? The US Virgin Islands has no responsibility here? If you look at this story and that's what you see, no offense, but you're either stupid or blind. For the publication of the Miami Herald series, "Perversion of Justice," in late 2018, the territories assistant attorney general, Carol Thomas Jacobs, rescinded Epstein's sex offender waivers according to the lawsuit. And you know what's so pathetic about that? It took the media publishing an article about Jeffrey Epstein's bullshit to finally make the Virgin Islands react. So it's not because they cared about justice. They were trying to get ahead of this story and they were trying to make it look like they actually cared, but we all know they didn't care if they did, Epstein, would have never been able to do what he did on their island. Denise George, who was then attorney general, testified in a deposition for the lawsuit that the territory's current governor, Albert Bryan, Jr., tried to pressure her to reinstate the waivers, which said made her uncomfortable. Yeah, you think, imagine your boss trying to pressure you to reinstate waivers to somebody like Jeffrey Epstein? Not every sexual offender or any person, you know, are in the position to have the governor make the request to the attorney general. That by itself indicated to me that Epstein was flexing his political influence over or with the governor, George said in a deposition she gave as part of the J.P. Morgan lawsuit. In 2022, George obtained a $105 million cash settlement in the racketeering lawsuit she filed against Epstein's estate. On December 27th, that same year, she filed a $190 million lawsuit against J.P. Morgan and was promptly fired by the governor days later on New Year's Eve. Bryan did not give a reason for the dismissal, but people who were briefed on the matter said Bryan was angry George filed the lawsuit without consulting him. The people briefed on the matter, who were not authorized to speak publicly, said the governor was likely concerned that the U.S. V.I.'s own failures to monitor Epstein would come up as part of the lawsuit. Bingo, 100%. Anybody who's followed along here knows that the U.S. V.I. has been in bed with Jeffrey Epstein since the very beginning. Bryan elected in 2018, previously served as chairman of the Economic Development Commission and was a member of that commission when Epstein was awarded his lucrative tax breaks. According to the lawsuit, Epstein was asked to give $25,000 towards Bryan's inauguration and $30,000 at Bryan's direction to the U.S. V.I.'s little league. So he was like a piggy bank, right? As long as Epstein kept ponying up the dough, he was free to abuse and do whatever he wanted on this island. In June, Bryan was also deposed as part of the JP Morgan lawsuit. He indicated he was not concerned about Epstein's history, referring to the 14-year-old girl Epstein admitted abusing in 2005 in the Florida case as a hooker. He also acknowledged that based on the information that he had at the time, he wasn't really interested in any of the allegations that surfaced about Epstein trafficking women and children on the island. Well, you know why, right? Because he was profiting. If he would have upset the apple cart, the bag wouldn't be there every week, and he'd have to actually, you know, get a real job. Through a spokesman, Bryan apologized for the remark, "I believe that we should honor and support all victims of human trafficking. That was a terrible use of language, and I should have never said that. It was disrespectful," the governor said in a statement, "Yeah, more than disrespectful." This is an elected official out here talking like this about Jeffrey Epstein and the survivors. How is this guy in any position of power? Oh, that's right, the whole ass system is corrupt. He declined to answer questions about why his administration gave a well-known convicted sex offender such leeway for so many years. Omerta JP Morgan alleges that USVI officials' failure to investigate Epstein reflects the Omerta-like culture, the code of silence, reminiscent of a crime family, that the territory's politicians had during the time that Epstein lived there and ran his businesses from an office complex in the Red Hook Quarter of St. Thomas. And that's because everybody profited. I don't know how many times I have to say it. When everybody's getting rich, nobody wants to upset the apple cart. To prove their case, JP Morgan's attorneys deposed a number of former and current USVI elected officials, including John Dijang, the former governor. Did you direct anyone on your staff to do any kind of investigation into Epstein, one of JP Morgan's lawyers' ass during a deposition? I would not do that, Dijang replied. Why not? My assumption will be that the Department of Justice, any of the entities dealing with Jeffrey Epstein, would have done that, Dijang replied? What a bullshit excuse, what a bullshit answer. And John Dijang should lose his job. He acknowledged that he never checked or asked anyone in his administration, including his own attorney general, to check on the territory's most infamous sex offender. Frazier, attorney general for the USVI from 2007 to 2015, said in a deposition that he had the ability to investigate who Epstein was bringing into the St. Thomas airport on his private jet, but didn't believe he had any reason to do so. What a bunch of BS, the traffic controllers even knew that Jeffrey Epstein was bringing girls to this island to abuse, but the attorney general had no idea? The governor had no clue? I'm sorry, but I'm not buying it. Who he may have flown with him on his private jet, the government of the Virgin Islands officials would not know, Frazier said. In fact, nearly all of the USVI officials interviewed as part of the lawsuit acknowledged that they saw news reports about Epstein's abuse of underage girls, but said they dismissed the stories as sensational rumors. JP Morgan's documents show that no one in the USVI law enforcement considered investigating Epstein, even though many of the news stories during this time were based on the federal lawsuits containing sworn affidavits by almost two dozen girls alleging Epstein had molested them. So yeah, let's just ignore everything because this guy's our patron saint of douchebags, and hopefully some of you out there who were wondering why I was so adamant about the Virgin Islands not getting a single cent, maybe you're starting to catch on now. One victim who did fly on Epstein's plane to his island, Sarah Ransom, said she is angry that no one including the USVI's Attorney General, US Customs and Border Patrol as well as the FBI ever did anything to stop Epstein. Ransom was 22 when she was lured to the island in 2006 for what she thought would be a social gathering. Born in South Africa, Ransom had hoped to study fashion in New York. Epstein told her he had connections at the Fashion Institute of Technology and would help her achieve her dream. Instead she said she was raped by Epstein dozens of times over the course of a year. In an interview with the Herald, Ransom said that Epstein had carte blanche in the USVI. Only once did she recall an official scrutinizing her passport and that was when she was arriving on a commercial plane. And this is what we've heard over and over and you ask me well how do you know this stuff? Listen to what the survivors are saying. And listen to the journalists, don't listen to all the jerk-offs spreading rumors and salacious BS on the internet. Listen to the survivors, the people who actually lived through it, they might have some information that is crucial to the story. She doesn't remember anyone ever checking her passport or belongings when she arrived on Epstein's private plane. His passengers always de-plained and went directly to a helicopter or a boat for the trip to St. James where they were greeted by a cheerful staff that she said seemed to normalize the promiscuity and sexual activity that happened on the island. Look, this is their normal, right? This is how they roll, so for everybody involved it was normal. To the rest of us, it's as abnormal as it comes. This gross ass disgusting ass egg dick motherfucker and there are few people that I can actually say that I hate, this man is one of them and anybody that ever gave him any help, anybody that ever enabled them, they can go get fucked too. Where was the FBI, Ransom said? I was being trafficked while the FBI was investigating him. They could have picked up the phone and called to find out what was going on. Ransom, who is suing the FBI for its failure to stop Epstein, said it's clear the USVI also looked the other way for years and as a result, she and other victims continued to be sexually abused. The government should not be rewarded for its complicity, man I really hope that Sarah Ransom decides to sue the US Virgin Islands as well, because if anybody ever deserved to get a lawsuit dropped on their ass, it's these people. How dare the USVI, which allowed hundreds of women to be trafficked, how dare they profit from what happened? Winfall, thus far the USVI has collected $105 million in cash settlements with Epstein's estate, $30 million from the sale of Epstein's islands and another $62.5 million in cash from Epstein's client and private equity investor Leon Black, who denied any wrongdoing while paying the settlement. It is seeking another $190 million from JP Morgan, they're not going to get that. JP Morgan's fighting tooth and nail here and they're not going to give up, they've already spent more than $14 million defending themselves here and I highly doubt they're going to pony up a settlement to the US Virgin Islands, not with everything that they know. Government officials say the proceeds will benefit the territory's victims of sexual abuse to prevent a human trafficking and investigate sex crimes, but critics point out that oversight of the fund could be problematic in a territory with a history of public corruption. Critics, maybe she's talking about me because I feel like I'm the only person that's been talking about this. Marcy Hamilton, the executive director of Child USA, a think tank fighting for the civil rights of children, has been working with the USVI officials to help set up the territories anti-trafficking initiatives. She said the money that the government has received from Epstein related settlements will be used to launch training programs for law enforcement, childcare workers, and education and healthcare professionals. "It's sex tourism," Hamilton said. We see it in Thailand and the Philippines, but it's also here in the Caribbean because it's part of our tourism and because it's their primary income, it is almost a cancer. This is not sex tourism, please do not try and frame it as that. This was a human trafficking operation that was "borrowed" deep within the political structure, deep within the financial sector, and certainly more than sex tourism, ok? The USVI's Victims of Human Trafficking Prevention Act has mandatory reporting requirements, as well as extensive services for trafficking victims. So basically this Marcy Hamilton lady has been brought in to whitewash what's happening, and if so and if she starts trying to gaslight us, she's gonna get eviscerated on this podcast. I look at the USVI as laying down the gauntlet and saying no more. This is one of the most progressive laws on sex trafficking in the nation, Hamilton said, "Give me a break. Where were you before?" So because they have some new laws on the books, we should just all jump for joy, not gonna happen. There needs to be a reckoning, there needs to be people held to account for the BS they've already done. The legal settlements are nevertheless a windfall for a country that faces serious economic and financial challenges. A recent bond report noted that the Epstein settlement would temporarily alleviate the government's financial distress. The US government accountability office recently cited the USVI's debt and weak financial management practices as factors in its financial instability. The territory also has a history of corruption involving misspent public funds. In 2013, former USVI Senator Alvin Williams pleaded guilty of federal racketeering charges involving bribery of a USVI official and for soliciting bribes from numerous developers and using his tax-supported staff for his personal use. In 2018, another former Senator Wayne, AG James, was convicted of stealing tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars he received to fund a historical research project that was actually used to pay his own campaign and personal expenses. The former governor, Dijang, was arrested in 2015 on charges of embezzling $500,000 in public money to make improvements to his private home. Emails from the USVI lawsuit against Morgan show Epstein offered to help Dijang by loaning him money and offering suggestions to the prosecutor in the case. I will play any role in this you guys like, wrote Epstein. I can lend John the money so he immediately has it. I would gladly be on the phone anonymously with the prosecutor offering suggestions. In one of the JP Morgan court filings Dijang on December 27, 2015, emailed Epstein asking for a loan to help pay the settlement. Per our previous conversation, Dijang wrote, "I would like to take you up on your offer and request a borrow $215,000. I really appreciate your willingness to help." The criminal case against Dijang, who denied any wrongdoing, was subsequently dropped after he paid a settlement of $380,000. Yeah, but the USVI wasn't in Epstein's pocket. JP Morgan alleges that some of the USVI's most veteran lawmakers were heavily influenced by Epstein's money. Among those named in a subpoena for the JP Morgan lawsuit is Solestino A. White Sr., an 11-term senator in the USVI's legislature who is also a member of the board that oversees the airport. Emails include in the lawsuit, discovery show that White's consulting and management firm sent Epstein a contract for unexplained services for his island. Oh, I wonder what that was for. Senator White signed the contractor's agreement, and the confidentiality agreement, "We will need to get him a check for $10,000 by Friday," Cecile Dijang wrote to Epstein, "approved," Epstein wrote back. In 2015, Cecile Dijang suggested to Epstein, "You may want to consider putting Solestino on some sort of monthly retainer. That is what will get you his loyalty and his access." The Herald was unsuccessful in reaching White. There is no indication in the lawsuit whether he was ever placed on retainer by Epstein. For the USVI's airport authority and the federal marshals, Epstein had friendly relations there too. In 2010, Epstein wrote in an email to Cecile Dijang, complaining that he was having difficulty with an official from the US Customs and Border Patrol at Cyril E. King Airport on St. Thomas, where Epstein's pilots would fly in and out on his private jet. Emails indicate that Epstein knew some of them personally. Who was in charge of customs in the VI? I used to have a great relationship with Gloria Lambert, the airport supervisor. I would like to know who is now in her place, or her boss." Epstein wrote to Cecile Dijang, referring to a customs official at the airport. Dijang promised a call would be made to the head of customs. Lambert, now retired, told the Miami Herald that she was under the impression the young women who accompanied Epstein were models. She didn't suspect any of them were being trafficked or were underage. If I were aware, I would have taken the initiative, but there was nothing suspicious when I dealt with Mr. Epstein and his passengers, Lambert said. In another email, Cecile Dijang solicited Epstein's support for her husband's proposed appointee to the Virgin Islands Port Authority, which controls the airport. He worked his tail off on the campaign she wrote of the nominee. Epstein gave other perks to former Governor Dijang and his wife, including paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in private grade school and college tuition for their children, according to the lawsuit Discovery Documents. In 2010, for instance, Cecile became irate when Epstein failed to pay a $25,000 bill, tuition for one year for one of her children. I will need to negotiate a raise so that I can afford to pay for my children's tuition at college. The first lady wrote to Epstein, "John and I have put money into the campaign based on what we thought was going to happen with the tuition payments. My oldest is a senior this year and I do not want him or my daughter to be asked to leave school this semester. Meanwhile, all of these poor, vulnerable girls on the island are getting abused with school being the last thing on their mind. But as long as the politician, Cecile Dijang's kids are in school, everything's all good. The predator Epstein's free to roam around and do whatever the fuck he wants." Stacey Plaskett In June 2014, Cecile Dijang asked Epstein to help an up-and-coming political star Stacey Plaskett get elected as a delegate to Congress representing the USVI. Plaskett's parents were born in Sanquat, USVI, but moved to Brooklyn, New York, where Plaskett was born and attended Chote-Rosemary Hall as a boarding student. After graduating from Georgetown University and American University Law School, she became a Republican assistant district attorney in the Bronx. She then worked as an attorney for the US House Ethics Committee and later as a lawyer in the Justice Department. In 2007, she moved to the Virgin Islands and worked in private practice before turning her attention to running for office, changing her party affiliation to Democrat in 2014. So this is your hero, huh? The lady that was up here, castigating other Americans? Meanwhile, she's eating out of Jeffrey Epstein's palm. Talk about fucking hypocrisy. She needs to raise about 75,000 between now and August. Cecile Dijang wrote in an email to Epstein, "Do you think any of your friends would give to her campaign?" Plaskett already knew of Epstein as she had been an attorney on the USVI's Economic Development Commission at the time that Epstein's tax breaks were approved. Then worked for Epstein's longtime USVI attorney, Erica Keller-Halls. And I remember when we were first talking about Stacey Plaskett, there were some ideologues who listened to the podcast who got bent out of shape, all in the reports of political hit job, all kinds of shit. But the reality is this, Stacey Plaskett is corrupt, okay, point blank, period. In a deposition given in May in the USVI lawsuit, Plaskett said she didn't recall whether she did any legal work for Epstein or his companies while working for Keller-Halls, although she acknowledged that Epstein was a client of the firm at the time. You know, since Stacey Plaskett likes commissions so much, I think we should have a commission put together by Congress by the Senate that looks into all these corrupt politicians who were wetting their beak in Egg Dick's hand. How about that kind of commission? I wonder if Stacey Plaskett would enjoy that. From 2014 until 2018, Epstein and his business associates donated a little over 30,000 to Plaskett's campaigns. She confirmed during the deposition. She also acknowledged that she visited Epstein's Manhattan mansion as recently as 2018 in a bid to get him to contribute money to the Democratic Party. This is in 2018. The Democratic Party is asking Epstein for money? Nobody's gonna be up in a tizzy about that, huh? Where's the outrage? Where is the legacy media demanding accountability? Epstein offered what she asked for again 30,000, but the Democratic National Committee ultimately rejected the contribution while they knew better. But the fact of the matter is this. This woman shouldn't be there even trying to get this money on behalf of anybody. Never mind a major political party in 2018 after we already knew what sort of monster Jeffrey Epstein was. Plaskett was asked why the DNC had declined Epstein's donation. She had not passed their vetting, Plaskett replied. What did you understand that to be a reference to? The JP Morgan lawyer asked. I did not know the specifics of what that vetting was, Plaskett said, but she took the money. You don't have the same exact standards as your party? Hmm, that's interesting. I wonder why. She was then asked whether that caused her to rethink taking contributions from Epstein. I recall thinking if I should continue receiving contributions from him. She replied according to the transcript. And for years, Plaskett resisted returning Epstein's donations. She reasoned that his felony sex charges in Palm Beach had nothing to do with the money he earned through his company. But after Epstein's 2019 arrest by the FBI, she faced even more scrutiny about her connections to Epstein. She eventually relented and said she would donate the money to support the USVI organizations that help women and children. The Herald tried to get details to confirm the donations and the amounts, but Plaskett's office did not respond to multiple inquiries. Imagine a public official refusing to respond to some shit like this, and nobody in the legacy media really picking it up or pressing them? Where's all the big articles in the New York Times? Or how about the New York Post? Oh wait, they're too busy chasing down Dave Portnoy over his all-important pizza reviews. Meanwhile, people like Stacey Plaskett continue to swim under the radar without any sort of scrutiny and without any sort of accountability. But hopefully that's going to come to an end because they can't frame this as a political hit job. What this is is exposing Stacey Plaskett for her nonsensical relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and the fact that she doubled down on that relationship a mere months before this man was arrested a second time. And hopefully this leads to a lawsuit filed against the US Virgin Islands by the survivors. They deserve to have every last bit of money that the US Virgin Islands took from Jeffrey Epstein's estate, from anybody else, and have that money directly deposited in their bank accounts instead. Because there's no doubt that the US Virgin Islands was complicit in what Epstein was up to. Alright folks, that's going to do it for this one. If you'd like to contact me, you can do that at bobbykapoochie@protonmail.com. That's B-O-B-B-Y-C-A-P-U-C-C-I@protonmail.com. All of the information that goes with this episode can be found in the description box.