U.S. Virgin Islands delegate Stacey Plaskett (D.) visited Jeffrey Epstein at the Virgin Islands office that served as the base for a network of shell companies the sex offender used to defraud the Virgin Islands government out of hundreds of millions of dollars, according to emails and court filings reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon.
Plaskett visited Epstein at the St. Thomas office of Southern Trust Company in August 2014, January 2019, and again in May 2019, just two months before Epstein was charged with trafficking dozens of underage girls for sex. According to Virgin Islands prosecutors, Epstein's Southern Trust and its "deliberately complex network" of subsidiaries defrauded the Virgin Islands government out of millions of dollars in tax breaks through a program operated by the territory's Economic Development Authority. Plaskett herself worked for the agency until 2012.
Those revelations and others could renew scrutiny of Plaskett as she reportedly eyes a run for Virgin Islands governor. Plaskett has for years faced scrutiny over her ties to Epstein, who killed himself in jail in August 2019. The congresswoman visited Epstein at his home in New York City in September 2018 to solicit donations to the Democratic Party. She sent a text message to Epstein later that same day, referring to him as her "friend," the Free Beacon reported. That contradicts Plaskett's claim in November that she never had "a friendship" with Epstein.
Plaskett's visits to Epstein's office, which is located two miles away from his private island, Little St. James, also highlight her largely unnoticed relationship with Erika Kellerhals, a longtime Epstein attorney who handled business and legal affairs for many of Epstein's fraudulent companies.
Kellerhals arranged and attended the August 2014 meeting and organized the May 2019 meeting, emails show. The 2014 meeting was initially planned for Epstein's residence, but was switched to "STC," the acronym for Southern Trust Company. The company's sole office was just a 10-minute helicopter ride from Epstein's private island. Kellerhals spearheaded many of the Epstein companies that the government now says were part of his scheme. In 2012, she testified in support of Southern Trust's application for the tax incentive program, describing Southern Trust as a "biomedical and financial informatics" firm.
In 2013, the Economic Development Authority granted Southern Trust a 10-year tax incentive package that included 90 percent exemption from income taxes. The Virgin Islands attorney general sued the Epstein estate in 2020, stating in the lawsuit that Southern Trust "did not perform" any of the business activities promised and ultimately received fraudulent tax breaks. The Epstein estate settled with the attorney general in 2022 for $105 million.
Kellerhals also facilitated Epstein's "straw purchase" of a second island, Great St. James, for $22 million in 2016. According to prosecutors, Epstein used the name of an Emirati business associate in paperwork to purchase the island, which Epstein allegedly used as a "barrier" to prevent underage victims at Little St. James from "escaping or obtaining help" and to "enable his criminal conduct."
Kellerhals, to whom Epstein planned to bequeath $2 million in his will, has not been accused of wrongdoing. But her activities on behalf of Epstein have drawn scrutiny from the Virgin Islands attorney general's office. And Sen. Ron Wyden (D., Ore.) last year pressed the Treasury Department to turn over financial transaction records related to Kellerhals and Southern Trust.
Kellerhals has played a significant role in Plaskett's legal and political career. Plaskett said in a 2023 deposition that Kellerhals introduced her to Epstein in 2014 "as a potential donor." Epstein ultimately backed Plaskett in that congressional race and tapped several of his employees to contribute $10,400 to her campaign.
Plaskett has remained close to Kellerhals even after the Epstein fallout.
The congresswoman attended a fundraiser in her honor at Kellerhals's home in April 2021, according to social media posts. Kellerhals contributed around $1,000 to Plaskett's campaign that month, as did another partner at her law firm, according to campaign finance records.
It is unclear what Epstein and Kellerhals discussed with Epstein during their meetings at Southern Trust.
But emails from spring 2019 show the meeting occurred as Epstein and Kellerhals were battling the Virgin Islands government over Epstein's sex offender registration status. In a March 28, 2019, email Kellerhals told Epstein that Denise George had been appointed attorney general of the Virgin Islands.
"I believe this is good news for us with respect to the registration issues. I'll reach out to Governor again," wrote Kellerhals, referring to Virgin Islands Gov. Albert Bryan (D.).
But George proved far less of an ally than they hoped.
George declined to grant Epstein a waiver to travel to the Dominican Republic, a trip that was planned for May 18, 2019, a day after the meeting with Plaskett. George told the FBI in 2023 that she was pressured by Bryan and Kellerhals to go easy on Epstein, according to interview notes. Bryan, who met frequently with Kellerhals and Epstein, abruptly fired George in 2022 after she filed a lawsuit on behalf of Epstein's victims.
Plaskett has faced scrutiny as well over her tenure at the Economic Development Authority, where she served as general counsel from 2007 to 2012.
Plaskett denied earlier this month approving any of the tax rebates for Epstein. But emails and meeting notes show that she was aware of concerns about Epstein's criminal history and that he was exploiting the agency's tax incentive program.
In July 2011, Plaskett received a public records request from investigative reporter Wayne Barrett seeking records about the tax incentive program. Barrett asked why Epstein was given Virgin Islands residency status in 2009, when he was in jail in Florida for attempted solicitation of a minor for prostitution.
And Plaskett led a September 2011 strategy session at the Economic Development Authority to handle questions about the program.
"Stacey has fielded requests in prior circumstances. Very careful in giving them exactly what was requested and to redact," according to notes from the meeting released as part of the Epstein files.
According to the notes, Plaskett was "concerned about effect on program as a whole" and said she would only respond to written questions from Barrett because "she has been burned before."
