Jean-Pierre Oriol

Jean-Pierre L. "JP" Oriol is the Commissioner of the U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Planning and Natural Resources (DPNR), the territorial agency responsible for environmental protection, land and coastal-zone permitting, and natural-resource management. A St. Thomas native, he attended All Saints Cathedral School and earned a bachelor's degree in biology from Brandeis University. He joined DPNR in the mid-2000s and rose over nearly two decades from a field worker to director of the Division of Coastal Zone Management (CZM), a post he held from 2011, serving several times as acting commissioner before Governor Albert Bryan Jr. named him Commissioner in February 2019, succeeding Alicia Barnes.

Oriol's connection to the Epstein case is regulatory. As CZM director and later Commissioner, his department oversaw permitting and enforcement for Epstein's two privately owned islands, Little St. James and Great St. James. DOJ-released "Epstein files" (EFTA) contain 2017 emails in which Epstein, using the address jeevacation@gmail.com and acting through agent Amy Dempsey and assistant Daphne Wallace, corresponded directly with Oriol about permit applications for the islands, including scheduling conference calls and discussing "minor permit" filings.

In December 2018, CZM issued a stop-work order over unauthorized construction on Great St. James; in 2019 Epstein was accused of violating it (by failing to remove a beach-bar cabana and by expanding a driveway) and faced escalating fines. Oriol publicly noted the territory could theoretically seek more than $1 million, at a statutory maximum of $10,000 per day. In February 2026, CNN's KFile reported 2019 text messages between Epstein and Governor Bryan in which Bryan, after Epstein complained about an "anti-development message" from the department, wrote that he had asked Oriol to "recuse himself and concede on all previous permit requests" and told Epstein "We got u." When Epstein warned that Oriol was "going to issue fines," Bryan replied that the commissioner "is not aware of any fines."

Bryan's administration has consistently denied that Epstein ever received special treatment, and Bryan said the record shows no instance where Epstein was afforded special privilege. Oriol was later deposed in the U.S. Virgin Islands' civil lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase (excerpts filed in 2023 by Motley Rice attorney David Ackerman). He testified that DPNR implemented escalating fines on Epstein "in accordance with the law" and that Epstein received no special treatment from his department, while acknowledging that DPNR lacked the manpower and vessels to fully monitor Epstein's islands. He is not accused of any wrongdoing; in the record he appears as the regulator who enforced against Epstein and as a fact witness.