Who Owns Great St. James Island? The Post-Epstein Ownership Record

Who owns Great St. James Island is now a records question with a clear public answer: as of April 24, 2026, the latest widely cited owner is Stephen Deckoff through SD Investments, the firm that announced it bought Great St. James and neighboring Little St. James from Jeffrey Epstein's estate in May 2023. The deeper search intent, however, is not only about the current deed holder; people also want to know how Great St. James moved from a relatively obscure U.S. Virgin Islands property to Epstein's second island, why the island drew permit and environmental scrutiny, and whether the post-sale resort plan has actually changed the status of the property.

That is a distinct question from our broader Epstein Island in 2026 status guide, the full Jeffrey Epstein properties breakdown, or the archive-wide Epstein island topic page. Great St. James deserves its own page because it is the less famous island in public memory, but the larger one in acreage, the more ambitious one in development plans, and the one that keeps resurfacing whenever newly released files or forum threads ask how Epstein expanded beyond Little St. James.

Who owns Great St. James Island right now?

The cleanest public answer is that Stephen Deckoff's firm, SD Investments, is the latest publicly reported owner. On May 3, 2023, SD Investments announced the acquisition of Great St. James and Little St. James in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The following day, an NPR report carried by NHPR said Deckoff paid $60 million for the two islands through SD Investments, after they had first been marketed for $125 million and later reduced.

The important date here is May 3, 2023, not a vague "after Epstein died." That is the acquisition date public reporting still points to. When I checked current search results on April 24, 2026, they still routed back to that 2023 acquisition announcement and to newer reporting about the history of Epstein's purchase, not to any clearly documented later resale. That means the best current public answer remains Deckoff and SD Investments.

Ownership checkpoint	What the public record shows	Why it matters
March 2022	Epstein's islands were listed for sale	Estate disposition had formally begun
May 3, 2023	SD Investments announced the acquisition	This is the clearest public ownership handoff
May 4, 2023	NPR/NHPR reported Deckoff paid $60 million for both islands	Confirms buyer identity and transaction scale
April 24, 2026	Search results still point to Deckoff-era ownership	No later transfer surfaced in current public reporting review

The distinction between publicly reported owner and territorial deed record also matters. If you want courtroom-grade verification, you would still want the U.S. Virgin Islands land records and permit filings. But for search intent and public-facing documentation, the Deckoff acquisition is the operative record.

How did Great St. James move from private family ownership to Epstein?

The 2016 acquisition is what makes Great St. James more than a footnote to Little St. James. A House Oversight PDF preserving a May 7, 2019 Virgin Islands Daily News article reported that permit files showed Epstein used Great St. Jim LLC to buy three parcels totaling 80.1 acres for $17.5 million on January 18, 2016. The same reporting said the remainder of the island, 12 parcels totaling 81.22 acres, was transferred to the same entity for $5 million on January 21, 2016.

That reporting matters because it anchors Great St. James in hard numbers rather than rumor. It shows that what looked from a distance like a single celebrity-island purchase was actually a structured acquisition with multiple parcels, shell entities, and permit paperwork that took years to surface in a readable way.

What the permit files showed

According to the preserved 2019 reporting:

• St. Thomas lawyer Erika Kellerhals organized Great St. Jim LLC in late 2015.
• Permit files linked the company to Poplar Inc., where Epstein was listed as president.
• A 2017 Coastal Zone Management permit application identified Epstein as "President of Poplar, Inc., sole member of Great St. Jim, LLC."
• Territorial officials said at least some work on Great St. James had been taking place without permission.

That sequence is one reason Great St. James remains useful for understanding how Epstein operated in the U.S. Virgin Islands. It shows the mix of LLC layering, permitting, and physical build-out that also runs through the broader USVI government and Epstein analysis.

What the 2026 file reporting added

A newer layer came on February 13, 2026, when ITV News reported that newly released files raised fresh questions about the 2016 purchase mechanics. ITV said documents suggested Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem's name was used in paperwork tied to the purchase and that one document described a mechanism meant to disguise the real buyer. That is not the same as a final court finding, so it should be framed carefully: the reporting points to documents raising questions about concealment, not to a final adjudicated ruling resolving every ownership detail.

2016 acquisition detail	Publicly reported record
Main shell vehicle	Great St. Jim LLC
Related company named in permit files	Poplar Inc.
First parcel bundle	80.1 acres for $17.5 million
Remaining parcels	81.22 acres for $5 million
Why 2026 reporting matters	Released documents added new questions about how Epstein's role was masked

That combination of 2016 permit files and 2026 document reporting is why Great St. James keeps resurfacing in search and Reddit threads. People are not just asking who owns it now; they are asking how Epstein acquired it then and whether the island was designed to extend the physical and corporate isolation already associated with Little St. James.

Why did Great St. James matter if Little St. James was the main residence?

Because Great St. James changed the scale of the island operation.

Little St. James was the island that became shorthand for the entire scandal. It was the main residence, the site of the most recognizable compound, and the island most directly associated in public discourse with victim testimony and the FBI's 2019 search. Great St. James was different. It was larger, less developed, and still being actively reimagined through permits, construction plans, roads, and utility infrastructure.

That difference explains why public confusion persists:

Question	Little St. James	Great St. James
Why people know it	It became the default meaning of "Epstein Island"	It stayed in the background as the second island
Ownership timing	Bought in 1998	Bought in 2016
Approximate size in public reporting	About 71.6 acres	Roughly 160 to 165 acres
Development status during Epstein era	Main compound already established	Expansion and major new plans were still underway
Main search intent today	What happened there, who visited, what remains	Who owns it now, what was being built, and what the second island was for

The site's existing Little St. James status page and island structures guide already handle the better-known compound. This page fills the gap by focusing on the neighboring island that was more speculative in public conversation but more revealing in permit and ownership records.

What was Epstein planning to build on Great St. James?

This is where Great St. James stops being a mere ownership sidebar and becomes a land-use story.

The 2019 permit-file reporting said Epstein planned a complex of buildings across the approximately 160-acre island, connected by private road. The list of proposed features was unusually specific: a barge dock, two homes, cottages, an amphitheater, gardens, a marine electrical cable, a solar array and generator, a storage building, a security building, a workshed and machine shop, and an "underwater office & pool."

Those details matter for two reasons.

First, they show that Great St. James was not being held only as a privacy buffer next to Little St. James. The island was being treated as a serious build-out project, with hospitality-like components, service infrastructure, and site-wide planning. Second, they explain why Great St. James attracted more environmental and permitting scrutiny than casual internet summaries usually mention.

The unauthorized-work issue

The same 2019 article quoted a Virgin Islands Department of Planning and Natural Resources spokesman saying officials had confirmed unauthorized work on Great St. James and that the government was moving to address it. The article described it as the third time in as many years that work had gone beyond the scope of permitted plans.

That is a stronger and more useful fact than vague claims that "the island was under investigation." It tells you:

• the government was actively reviewing site work before Epstein's 2019 arrest,
• Great St. James had a live permit history of its own, and
• at least part of the public record around the second island is regulatory, not only criminal.

Why the environmental angle matters

NOAA's work on the St. Thomas East End Reserves (STEER) is important context here. NOAA materials describe the St. James reserve area as part of a protected marine and wildlife system with coral reefs, seagrass beds, mangroves, and nursery habitat used by fish and shellfish. Searchable NOAA summaries also place the waters around Great St. James, Little St. James, and Christmas Cove inside the broader STEER geography.

That means Great St. James was not just a private real estate asset. It sat inside an environmentally sensitive zone where marine cables, shoreline structures, dredging, and heavy construction carried public-interest consequences beyond the island's owner.

The preserved 2019 permit reporting makes that connection explicit. It said the permit application discussed mitigation for endangered corals and the Virgin Islands tree boa, and it said the paperwork represented that the public would retain free access to shoreline areas including Christmas Cove, a well-known boating and snorkeling area. In other words, even the development paperwork acknowledged that Great St. James was embedded in a public recreational and ecological setting, not sealed off from it in the way online mythmaking often implies.

What happened after Epstein died?

After Epstein's death in August 2019, Great St. James moved into the estate-and-settlement phase. This is the period when search intent shifted from "what is he building there?" to "who owns it now?" and "what will happen to it?"

The basic timeline is straightforward:

1. Epstein died on August 10, 2019, leaving Great St. James and Little St. James inside estate administration and related litigation.
2. The islands were put on the market in March 2022, as part of broader efforts to liquidate estate assets and fund settlement obligations.
3. SD Investments announced the acquisition on May 3, 2023.
4. NPR/NHPR reported the next day that Deckoff paid $60 million for both islands.

The sale was not just a private market event. The NPR/NHPR report said the U.S. Virgin Islands government was due to receive sale proceeds under a previously reached settlement. The SD Investments announcement likewise said a significant portion of the proceeds would be paid to the government under the settlement with Epstein's estate.

That is a useful point for readers who only know the islands as internet symbols. The ownership transfer was tied to a legal and financial unwind, not merely to a billionaire buying a scandal-marked asset at a discount.

What is the owner planning now, and has it actually opened?

Deckoff's stated plan was ambitious from the beginning. In the May 3, 2023 acquisition announcement, SD Investments said it planned a five-star, 25-room luxury resort intended to create jobs and support tourism while respecting the islands' environment. NPR/NHPR said the target opening floated publicly at the time was 2025.

But the current public record matters more than the launch-year optimism.

As of April 24, 2026, the latest search results I reviewed still surfaced:

• the May 2023 acquisition announcement,
• the May 2023 NPR/NHPR ownership report,
• a February 13, 2026 ITV article about the historic purchase documents,
• forum threads asking who owns the islands now,
• and public-interest reporting about the older permit and document trail.

What those results did not surface was a clear, well-sourced report that the resort had fully opened and replaced the transitional ownership phase with a mature operating property. That does not prove nothing has happened on the ground. It does mean the public-facing evidence trail still points to development and planning, not to a completed, widely documented operating resort.

That distinction is critical for SEO and for accuracy. Users asking who owns Great St. James Island are often trying to answer a second question indirectly: is the island still frozen in Epstein estate history, or has someone actually moved it into a new chapter? The public record suggests the ownership chapter changed in 2023, while the final end-state of redevelopment remains less clearly documented.

Is Great St. James the same island people usually mean by "Epstein Island"?

No, and clearing that up is half the value of this page.

In ordinary search behavior, "Epstein Island" usually means Little St. James, the smaller island with the more recognizable compound. Great St. James is the larger neighboring island. That is why ownership queries so often look like corrective searches: people realize there was a second island, then ask who owns it, whether Epstein used it the same way, and what happened to it after the sale.

The distinction also shapes the evidence base.

• Little St. James dominates in search because it dominates in testimony, imagery, and public shorthand.
• Great St. James matters because it expands the property story: second acquisition, shell-company purchase path, live permit disputes, environmental review, and larger-scale development plans.

If you want the wider property context, the most useful internal bridge is our full guide to Epstein's real estate empire. If you want the island-specific regulatory context, the next step is the USVI government and Epstein page, which explains why land, tax, permitting, and settlement records all overlap in the Virgin Islands story.

What should you check if you want to verify ownership yourself?

The safest workflow is simple and reproducible:

1. Start with the latest public ownership announcement

Use the May 3, 2023 SD Investments release as the current public ownership baseline, not as the final word on every permit or legal issue.

2. Pair it with an independent report

Cross-check the announcement with the May 4, 2023 NPR/NHPR report, which adds the reported purchase price and sale-market context.

3. Read the earlier permit record

If you want to understand what the owner actually bought, use the preserved 2019 Great St. James permit-file article. That is where you see acreage, parcels, shell companies, construction scope, and the unauthorized-work issue.

4. Add the environmental layer

NOAA's STEER habitat work is what prevents you from treating Great St. James as an isolated luxury lot. It is part of a marine area where coral, seagrass, mangroves, and shoreline access questions are part of the story.

5. Separate current owner from historical allegations

This final discipline matters. Current ownership tells you who controls the island now. It does not automatically transfer Epstein-era allegations to the current owner, and it does not erase the historical record either. Good archive work keeps those categories separate.

FAQ: Who owns Great St. James Island?

Who owns Great St. James Island now?

As of April 24, 2026, the latest publicly cited owner is Stephen Deckoff through SD Investments. Current search results still point back to the May 2023 acquisition announcement and related sale reporting, not to any later transfer.

Did Jeffrey Epstein own Great St. James as well as Little St. James?

Yes. Public records and permit files show Epstein acquired Great St. James in 2016 after already owning Little St. James. Great St. James was the larger neighboring island and the one with a newer, more ambitious development program on the public permit trail.

What was Epstein planning to build on Great St. James?

Permit records reported in 2019 described a barge dock, two homes, cottages, an amphitheater, gardens, a marine electrical cable, a solar array, service buildings, and an underwater office and pool. The same reporting said territorial officials had confirmed unauthorized work beyond the approved scope.

What is planned for Great St. James after the sale?

SD Investments said in May 2023 that it planned a five-star, 25-room luxury resort across the islands. As of April 24, 2026, the public record still points more clearly to design, approvals, and ownership transition than to a fully documented completed opening.

Is Great St. James the same island people usually call Epstein Island?

No. In ordinary public shorthand, "Epstein Island" usually means Little St. James. Great St. James is the larger neighboring island that Epstein bought later and tried to develop more extensively.

Bottom line

The answer to who owns Great St. James Island is straightforward in current public reporting: Stephen Deckoff, through SD Investments, since May 2023. The more important context is that Great St. James was not a minor side parcel. It was the larger neighboring island, bought through layered entities in 2016, planned as a major build-out, scrutinized for unauthorized work, and later sold as part of the estate's legal unwind.

That is why the keyword keeps generating searches, forum threads, and follow-up reporting. Ownership is only the first layer. The real value is understanding how Great St. James connects the private-island mythology, the permit trail, the settlement process, and the still-unfinished public question of what the post-Epstein future of the islands will actually look like.