Epstein’s Offshore Bank: The Mystery of Southern Country International (7/6/26)

The Miami Herald reports that Jeffrey Epstein’s obscure U.S. Virgin Islands offshore bank, Southern Country International, suddenly became active in 2019 after years of dormancy, moving tens of millions of dollars shortly before and after his arrest and death. The bank reportedly had no employees, held under $500,000 for years, and then processed more than $20 million between April and early July 2019. After Epstein died in federal custody on August 10, 2019, another $25 million moved through the bank, including funds from unknown sources. Investigators later examined a $15 million transfer from Epstein’s Deutsche Bank account to Southern Country the day after his death, but the FBI closed the wire-fraud probe four years later without publicly explaining why.

The story also lays out how Epstein obtained the offshore banking license in the first place, despite being a registered sex offender, and how Virgin Islands officials gave the bank unusual treatment, including waiving a requirement that it employ at least three people. The Herald notes that the bank may have been used in ways that violated territorial rules, because Southern Country was supposed to do business only with non-Virgin Islands people or companies, yet large transfers involved Epstein’s Southern Trust Company, which was based in the territory. Compliance officers at traditional banks later flagged suspicious activity, with TD Bank reportedly saying some account funding appeared designed to disguise Epstein as the source of the money. The result is another unanswered Epstein money trail: a bank created in a friendly offshore jurisdiction, largely dormant for years, suddenly moving huge sums around the exact moment the walls were closing in.



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source:

Questions surround Epstein’s USVI offshore bank activity | Miami Herald