Epstein has a home in Little St. James, which he acquired in 1998, maintained and in 2016 near St. St. James bought, according to a lawsuit filed last year.
Dan Weiner, a lawyer for the estate, said in a written statement to CNN that the co-executors of the estate had received ‘interests from numerous parties regarding the two USVI properties, and 2-3 bona fide offers around it for sale.’
The proposed sale of the properties comes after the program administrators for the victim fund announced on Friday that they were interrupting payments because the estate had little cash. Due to ‘uncertainty’ about funding, the program said it offers compensation provisions until March 25 or later, depending on when the estate can provide the necessary funds to complete the disbursements, according to a news release from the fund.
“The estate has found its way to pay attorneys, landscaping and helicopter fees, but not the brave women who have stepped forward to participate in the compensation fund,” said Denise N. George, U.S. Attorney General. Islands, said. “This is, unscrupulously, another promise that Epstein and now, his estate, have made and broken.”
The attorney general filed a lien on Epstein’s estate in January 2020 after he filed a lawsuit against the estate, according to court documents.
George’s office on Friday filed an emergency measure to freeze all of the estate’s assets, which were granted by a judge the same day. The order states that the co-executors may not make or approve any money expenditure or sale of any asset (s) of Epstein’s estate without the court approving such transactions.
In addition to the islands, the Epstein estate has a number of properties for sale, including a farm in New Mexico, a mansion in Palm Beach and Epstein’s seven-story mansion with ten bedrooms on the Upper East Side in Manhattan.
The mansion is described as the largest single house in New York, and was originally listed for $ 88 million, but the price has since dropped to $ 65 million, according to a listing by the Modlin Group.
Epstein’s Compensation Program was instituted in June 2020 after its lawyers urged it to start a program to avoid litigation. According to program administrators, it received more than 150 claims and paid out $ 55 million to claimants. Weiner says the estate funded the program with more than $ 87 million to pay plaintiffs, in addition to separate payments that cover the fund’s ongoing operations.
The registration date for new applicants is closed on 8 February and all claims must be submitted by 25 March. Discussions have not yet been held to extend the deadlines, but a postponement is not off the table if the payout continues after March 25, a spokesman for the program told CNN.
Epstein is accused of transporting underage girls to his homes in the US Virgin Islands and forcing them to have sex until 2001, according to a lawsuit filed by George’s office.
The multimillionaire has already been charged in a federal criminal case in which he claims to have run a sex trading business at his homes in Manhattan and Palm Beach, Florida.
Epstein, 66, died of suicide in August 2019 while awaiting federal trial at the Metropolitan Correction Center in New York. He pleaded not guilty to the charges.
CNN’s Eric Levenson contributed to this report.
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