Among the nearly 3.5 million pages of documents released by the U.S. Justice Department as part of its compliance with the federal Epstein Files Transparency Act, four describe a voluntary interview that former V.I. Attorney General Denise George gave to the Federal Bureau of Investigation in October 2023.
According to a write-up of the interview, George, who was fired by Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. in late 2022, expounded on the territory’s dealings with the sex trafficker and financier Jeffrey Epstein — both before and after his death — as well as Southland Gaming’s takeover of operations at the Clinton E. Phipps Race Track and efforts to quash her lawsuits against Epstein’s estate and JPMorgan Chase.
George informed the FBI that within two weeks of her 2019 appointment, Bryan told her Epstein wanted a waiver for the 21-day reporting period requirement for registered sex offenders. Epstein had received such a waiver from the previous attorney general, Vincent Frazer, but it was later rescinded by then-acting Attorney General Carol Thomas-Jacobs. Bryan told George via text message that “you need to make a decision on the Epstein matter,” according to the memo. After George denied the waiver, Bryan responded by saying, “Thank you for your work on this.”
It was not immediately clear whether the quotes included in the interview memorandum were direct quotes from Bryan or George’s characterization of his communications.
Epstein died later that year in a New York City jail cell in what the city’s medical examiner determined was suicide. According to the memo, George “believed [Epstein] was involved in Economic Development Commission (EDC) fraud and proceeds from criminal acts pertaining to [the] Criminally Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (CICO,” according to the interview. According to George, Bryan said, “He’s dead go for it.”
The territory contracted Motley Rice to assist its CICO case and help recover funds from Epstein’s estate, and the estate later settled for $105 million in civil court while denying all wrongdoing. In a press release issued at the time, George said the settlement “restores the faith of the People of the Virgin Islands that its laws will be enforced, without fear or favor, against those who break them.”
Behind the scenes, Bryan’s “original tone of ‘Go for it’ changed to ‘End it quickly,’” according to the interview memo. George told the FBI that Bryan peppered her with questions about why she was interviewing certain people, requesting certain documents or filing certain items.
The memo quotes Bryan as telling George that “originally when I said go ahead I didn’t think it was going to go this far. I can’t get you to let this go?”
As the territory’s case against Epstein’s estate wore on, George told the FBI that Bryan told her to settle for $80 million with attorney Henry Smock as mediator. At one point, George claimed, Bryan told her that he was sick of her not doing what she was told to do and he eventually sent Carlton Dowe, the current director of the V.I. Port Authority, to convince her.
“When GEORGE stated that BRYAN would have to fire her to get what he wants, DOWE stated that it would be political suicide to fire her at least before the election,” the memo states. “After this meeting DOWE stopped talking to George.”
Not all of the disclosures included in the memo pertained to Epstein. In George’s telling, Bryan called her early one morning in 2020 amid a lawsuit Southland Gaming had filed against the Virgin Islands government two years prior. The Virgin Islands Daily News had published an article about George’s argument that the government’s video lottery terminal agreement with Southland was illegal, and Bryan was angry.
“I am hearing you are going after people who are members of our team,” he is quoted as saying in the memo, which added that George later learned that former Management and Budget Director Jenifer O’Neal — who was found guilty of wire fraud, bribery and money laundering conspiracy in December — had complained to the governor.
“GEORGE opined that ONEAL and SOUTHLAND GAMING’s liaison to the VI government, Jason Charles… are good friends and often seen dinning [sic] together,” according to the memo. “USVI and SOUTHLAND GAMING mediation fell through. The VI government offered SOUTHLAND GAMING rights at the new Racetrack on St. Thomas in exchange for a withdrawal of the lawsuit.”
George told the FBI that, separately, Bryan was also interested in the case of a police officer, Anderson Poleon, who sued the government for false arrest and imprisonment — and later became Bryan’s chief of security. Bryan “asked for updates frequently and inside information while the case was pending,” according to the memo. George added that Poleon’s attorney, listed as Kye Walker in court documents, had close ties to Bryan.
“BRYAN called GEORGE on speaker phone with the officer in the room and offer amounts [sic] for settlement,” according to the memo.
George’s tenure as attorney general would come to an end on Dec. 31, 2022 — four days after she filed an action against JPMorgan Chase alleging that the financial giant benefited from Epstein’s crimes and failed to report them. Government House acknowledged George’s firing at the time but declined to give a reason for it.
“I relieved Denise George of her duties as attorney general this weekend,” Bryan said in a statement. “I thank her for her service to the people of the territory during the past four years as attorney general and wish her the best in her future endeavors.”
According to the interview memo, “Several reasons were provided to the press but a listed reason was that no attorney general was going to file anything without notifying the Governor.”
George said little publicly about the firing, even when interviewed at length by the Sunday Times in September 2023. After that and another article was published, a cease and desist letter was emailed to her and delivered to her by “an unknown man arriving at her home.”
“GEORGE took the use of an unknown man to convey a message that we can reach you at your home,” the memo concludes.
Government House has not yet responded to questions sent late Friday.
