Southern Trust Company was one of the entities Jeffrey Epstein incorporated in the U.S. Virgin Islands as part of his tax optimization strategy. It was used alongside several other shell and holding companies to manage financial flows.
The USVI tax incentive context: Epstein established his financial base in the USVI partly to take advantage of the territory’s Economic Development Commission (EDC) program, which offered substantial tax reductions — in some cases up to 90% of federal and local income taxes — to qualifying businesses. Epstein claimed that Southern Trust and related entities represented legitimate financial service operations in the USVI, allowing him to qualify for these incentives.
The USVI lawsuit: The U.S. Virgin Islands government’s civil case against Epstein’s estate (filed in 2020) specifically called out Southern Trust as one of the vehicles used to exploit the USVI tax system. The USVI government alleged that Epstein fraudulently obtained tax benefits by claiming to operate qualifying businesses when in fact the operations were primarily a front, and that the underlying activity of those entities included facilitating his trafficking operation.
The settlement: The USVI case settled in 2024 for $105 million. As part of the settlement, the estate acknowledged the wrongful use of these corporate vehicles.
Southern Trust is one of several Epstein entities — alongside financial trusts like the 1953 Alligator Trust, his Virgin Islands-based companies, and offshore structures — that collectively shielded his wealth and enabled his operation.