Denise George

Role and Background

Denise George served as the Attorney General of the United States Virgin Islands, the jurisdiction that included Little Saint James — Epstein’s private island where much of his documented abuse occurred. The USVI had been Epstein’s primary legal domicile for tax purposes, allowing him to claim substantial tax benefits through the territory’s Economic Development Commission program while operating one of the most sustained trafficking operations in American history within USVI waters and on USVI land.

Her tenure as Attorney General placed her in a unique position to pursue Epstein’s estate on behalf of the territory and its residents after his 2019 death in federal custody.

Lawsuit Against Epstein’s Estate

George filed a civil lawsuit against Epstein’s estate on behalf of the USVI government in 2019, shortly after his death. The lawsuit alleged that Epstein had used the Virgin Islands as a base of operations for sex trafficking, recruiting and exploiting his victims on Little Saint James and nearby properties. The case was significant because it was a governmental action, rather than an individual victim’s civil suit, and it targeted the full estate — potentially billions of dollars in assets — as proceeds of criminal enterprise.

The USVI case attracted particular attention because it implicated the territory’s own economic development incentives in enabling Epstein’s operation. The lawsuit argued that Epstein had fraudulently obtained tax benefits and other incentives while using the territory for criminal purposes, and it sought disgorgement of those benefits alongside damages.

Lawsuit Against JPMorgan

George also filed a lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase, alleging that the bank had knowingly facilitated Epstein’s trafficking operation by maintaining his accounts and processing transactions that funded it, even after Epstein’s 2008 conviction. The lawsuit against JPMorgan was one of several institutional accountability actions filed in courts following Epstein’s death; Deutsche Bank settled a separate regulatory action related to similar allegations.

The JPMorgan lawsuit was among the most aggressive third-party accountability actions in the Epstein case, arguing that financial institution liability extended to any entity that knowingly benefited from or facilitated trafficking. JPMorgan eventually settled the USVI lawsuit for approximately $75 million in addition to a $290 million settlement of a class action brought by victims.

Settlement and Dismissal

George secured a settlement of approximately $105 million from Epstein’s estate for the USVI government — a significant recovery for the territory and a demonstration that governmental legal action could extract substantial accountability from Epstein’s estate even in the absence of criminal proceedings against the estate itself.

Days after the settlement was announced in January 2023, Governor Albert Bryan Jr. fired George as Attorney General, citing what he described as the settlement having been reached without proper authorization from his office. George disputed this characterization and stated publicly that she believed her dismissal was connected to her aggressive pursuit of the Epstein-related cases, including ongoing litigation that may have threatened additional powerful interests. The timing of her firing — immediately following a landmark settlement — drew widespread attention and criticism.

Significance

George’s tenure illustrates both the potential and the limits of governmental accountability actions in the Epstein case. Her lawsuits against the estate and JPMorgan achieved significant financial accountability and forced public documentation of Epstein’s USVI operations and their funding. Her abrupt dismissal immediately after a major settlement raised serious questions about political interference in accountability proceedings and became a story in its own right during the ongoing effort to understand who protected Epstein and why.