REAL-ESTATE

UPDATED: Graffiti left on gates of Epstein’s house in Palm Beach

Darrell Hofheinz
dhofheinz@pbdailynews.com
A photo taken Tuesday shows spray-painted graffiti on the gates of the Palm Beach lakefront home of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. [Darrell Hofheinz/palmbeachdailynews.com]

Bright-red graffiti was spray-painted early this week on one of the white gates leading into the Palm Beach estate of the late convicted sex offender and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.

It was unclear early Tuesday afternoon when the graffiti appeared or who was responsible for it. But it was an unusual sight among the pristine mansions that line El Brillo Way, where the Epstein estate faces a quiet lagoon in the Intracoastal Waterway.

A spokesman for the Palm Beach police said his department had no immediate comment about the incident.

The graffiti was gone by mid-morning Wednesday, the Daily News confirmed.

Epstein, 66, died Saturday morning after authorities said he hanged himself in a federal jail in New York City. He was arrested July 6 by federal authorities in New York on sex-trafficking and conspiracy charges involving underage girls. He had been in custody without bail since his arrest.

There was no activity apparent Tuesday at the Palm Beach estate. But that was not the case Monday at Epstein’s estate on St. James Island in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where FBI agents conducted a raid Monday morning, according to media reports, including one in The Virgin Island Daily News. The newspaper said a local fishing and snorkeling guide reported spotting the FBI agents while taking a group of tourists on a charter Monday morning.

The 72-acre private island has been dubbed “Orgy Island” by locals, according to the report.

Epstein purchased the island in 1998 for $7.95 million and was allowed to visit at least six times while on house arrest in Palm Beach.

Epstein was initially booked in Palm Beach County in 2006 after police said he had sex with underage girls whom he paid for massage sessions at his Palm Beach home. In 2008, he entered what many observers have termed a “sweetheart” plea deal in Palm Beach County that led to his conviction on two state felony counts, including solicitation of a minor.

The plea deal in Florida let him avoid harsher federal charges similar to the ones he was facing in New York when he died. He had pleaded not guilty to those charges and faced a maximum sentence of 45 years.

>> Jeffrey Epstein: ‘He could buy anything, including his own death’

In the indictment that led to Epstein’s arrest in New York, federal prosecutors announced plans to confiscate real estate owned by the multi-millionaire and used during his crimes. The only property specifically mentioned was his townhouse at 9 E. 71st St. in Manhattan, which was owned by Epstein’s Maple Inc. By prosecutors’ estimate, that home is worth $77 million.

The Palm Beach house was not targeted for confiscation in the indictment. Neither was his ranch in New Mexico nor the estate in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

But Epstein’s death has complicated the fate of those properties, according to law-enforcement officials, because it ended the criminal case against him.

>> Palm Beach house in the spotlight in Epstein case

Epstein paid $2.5 million for his Palm Beach house in 1990, records show. In 2011, he transferred its ownership from his name to an entity named Laurel Inc., a company registered in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The house hadn’t changed hands since, according to deeds filed at the courthouse.

The neighborhood is home to some of the prime properties in town, thanks to its historic character and secluded, in-town location, real estate observers say. The house on El Brillo Way stands on the opposite end of the Estate Section from President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago, his winter White House.

The two-story house on El Brillo Way was built in 1950 on a lot measuring nearly three-quarters of an acre, according to records kept by the county property appraiser’s office. It was among the hundreds of houses designed by John L. Volk over the society architect’s long career on the island. The house and an outbuilding have 14,223 square feet of living space, inside and out, records show.

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This story has been updated to include the Palm Beach police department’s response and to note that the graffiti was gone Wednesday.

dhofheinz@pbdailynews.com

@PBDN_hofheinz