Jeffrey Epstein’s Mystery Bank Came Alive After His Death

But court documents show Southern Country was active for some of last year.

Records filed by the estate on Friday indicate that Southern Country had $693,157 in assets when Mr. Epstein died on Aug. 10. Then, in mid-December, the estate transferred $15.5 million to Southern Country in two checks. Southern Country sent back $2.6 million, leaving the total it received at $12.9 million. The documents filed by the estate do not give a reason for the transfers.

It’s also not clear what Southern Country did with that money. Two weeks later, the year-end value of Southern Country’s assets was $499,759, according to the estate’s filings.

The estate has told officials in the Virgin Islands that it does not intend to renew the bank’s license again.

Around the time the territory granted Mr. Epstein his banking license, it also gave a lucrative tax break to Southern Trust, a company Mr. Epstein said was developing sophisticated algorithms to mine DNA and financial databases. The tax break came from the territory’s Economic Development Authority, which was approved by the territory’s former governor, John de Jongh Jr., while his wife, Cecile, worked for Mr. Epstein. Neither Ms. de Jongh nor her husband returned messages seeking comment.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/04/business/jeffrey-epstein-estate-bank.html?emc=rss&partner=rss