Attorney: Epstein documents suggest 'occult activity' on private island
WEST PALM BEACH — A South Florida lawyer says documents released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act suggest “occult activity” took place on the deceased Palm Beach financier’s private island.
Attorney Travis Walker filed a federal lawsuit against Epstein’s estate on Jan. 22 on behalf of a woman identified only as Jane Doe. The 20-page suit says Doe was lured to the island under false pretenses in 2018 and was subsequently sex-trafficked and coerced into silence.
The lawsuit itself makes no mention of religious activity, spiritual practices, cult recruitment or ritual abuse. It does not describe the false pretenses under which Doe was lured, or where the abuse took place. It says only that she was “induced to travel” across state and national borders, and that “layered logistics” kept her from knowing the identities of her abusers.
In an interview four days after filing the suit, Walker said he kept the details sparse in order to maintain the anonymity of his client, who he described as a Florida resident between 20 and 40 years old. As for how she found herself on the island, the attorney pointed to the occult.
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Details contained within the trove of recently released documents “led us to believe that there was occult activity” on Little St. James, in the U.S. Virgin Islands about 1,100 miles southeast of Miami, Walker said.
When pressed to describe either the cult or its activities, Walker said it was religious, “sinister” and involving sex-trafficking.
“It’s definitely not Christianity,” he said on Jan. 26. “It’s something different.”
Investigators have described Epstein’s sex-trafficking network as cultlike — resembling a “sexual-pyramid scheme” where girls were recruited and then acted as recruiters themselves — though none indicated Epstein was involved in running an actual religious or ideological cult.
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Walker said he intends to do “a deeper dive with regards to the actual activities that were ongoing” at the island as the lawsuit proceeds. He offered to share documents supporting the cult claims but had not done so by Jan. 28.
The only mention of the word “occult” in the thousands of recently released files appears only in relation to medical testing, not spiritual or religious practices.
This lawsuit isn’t the first to accuse Epstein of abuse in 2018
The Epstein Files Transparency Act, signed by President Trump in November, requires the release of all materials related to Epstein’s investigation and prosecution. So far, the Justice Department has released only a small portion, many of which were already public. The documents contained little new information, leading to bipartisan criticism.
Walker’s claim breaks from the recruitment methods described by dozens of other victims over two decades. Most said they were paid for massages that morphed into sexual abuse, or offered cash to recruit friends. Some were approached with promises of modeling work or educational opportunities.
Walker said his client was recruited to the island through what she believed was a religious organization.
“She had no intention of actually being involved there,” Walker said. “But through coercion and just being involved with other people, she did find her way there.”
Doe is not the first to say Epstein amassed victims as late as 2018, by which point he came under renewed scrutiny following the Miami Herald’s “Perversion of Justice” investigation.
The Virgin Islands attorney general filed a lawsuit against his estate in 2020 after concluding that Epstein, who authorities say died by suicide while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges in 2019, had run a sex-trafficking operation on his private Caribbean islands for the last two decades.
The estate settled with the Virgin Islands in November 2022 for $105 million. Under the agreement, $80 million went to a fund for Epstein’s victims, while $25 million went to the territory.
The settlement also required the estate to fund anti-trafficking initiatives in the Virgin Islands.
Walker said his client has not yet received any compensation from that settlement.
Doe is suing Epstein’s estate, the trust fund created days before his death, Laurel Inc. (which held the title to his Palm Beach mansion), and 20 unnamed defendants under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act and federal RICO statutes.
The estate’s representatives — Darren Indyke and Richard Kahn — did not respond to requests for comment. In past cases, estate attorney Daniel Weiner said settlements were made to resolve claims sensitively and denied wrongdoing by the executors.
Hannah Phillips is a journalist covering public safety and criminal justice at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at hphillips@pbpost.com.
Hannah Phillips
Palm Beach Post
Updated Feb. 9, 2026, 1:28 p.m. ET
Hannah has worked at The Palm Beach Post since 2022. She covers civil and criminal court proceedings, as well as overdose deaths, gun violence and police use of force in Palm Beach County. She graduated from the University of Florida, where she studied journalism and public policy.
Types of Human Trafficking Cases We Handle
- Sex Trafficking: These cases involve the exploitation of individuals to engage in sex acts for money. Survivors may range from adults to minors.
- Labor Trafficking: These cases involve forced servitude or labor, which can occur in industries such as agriculture, hospitality, and construction.
- Child Trafficking: This involves the exploitation of minors for labor or sex.
- Domestic Servitude: Such cases involve forcing survivors to work domestically for little or no compensation and without the ability to leave.
- Forced Crimes: In such cases, individuals are compelled to commit crimes, such as theft or drug distribution, under threat or coercion.Human trafficking cases in any form have unique legal challenges. Our Florida human trafficking lawyers use strategic litigation to hold traffickers accountable through civil lawsuits and obtain compensation for survivors.
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