Epstein's Architects Were Asked to Design a 'Ladies' Residence' With Four Identical Rooms on His Private Island

In the spring of 2018, Jeffrey Epstein was not hiding. He was building.

Thousands of pages of emails, architectural plans, and financial records released by the Department of Justice reveal that in the final 14 months before his July 2019 arrest, Epstein was actively planning a massive construction project on both Little St. James and Great St. James, the two private islands he owned in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The scope was extraordinary: a sprawling concrete compound inspired by a famous Riviera villa, a master retreat designed to block all light and noise, a private cinema, a large grotto, a structure labeled "Funhouse Point," and a separate residential complex for young women that the architects referred to as the "Ladies' Residence."

The plans were not theoretical. Epstein hired and paid architects. He approved wire transfers. He personally dictated design specifications down to the kitchen layout. And when one firm's work displeased him, he fired them and hired another the same month.

The Architect from Miami

The story begins in November 2017, when Epstein's executive assistant Lesley Groff sent an email with the subject line: "Set Up a Phone Call w/Ramon. Need Architect for Island in Carribean."

Ramon Alonso Ocejo, president of Radyca, a Miami architecture firm at 1450 Brickell Avenue, took the call. Within days, he flew on Epstein's private Gulfstream IV (tail number N120JE) from Palm Beach to St. Thomas. By December, Epstein had approved a retainer of $47,760 for a survey and digitalization proposal covering both islands. The wire went through on December 7, 2017, handled by Epstein's accountant Richard Kahn at HBRK Associates. Radyca's team, including a drone crew of three, arrived on Little St. James between December 10 and 14 to photograph and map the property.

By February 2018, Radyca had completed Phase I deliverables and presented a digital presentation at their Miami office. The balance of $31,840 was paid on February 7, bringing the Phase I total to $79,600. Alonso then engaged WATG, one of the world's largest hospitality design firms, to handle landscape architecture.

The plans grew. On Epstein's instructions, Radyca produced a "Preliminary Master Concept" for both islands, a document that survives in the DOJ release as EFTA00800370 through EFTA00800413. The site plans label over thirty distinct structures and zones, numbered and captioned. Among them:

5. Ladies Residence 28. Funhouse Point 29. Large Grotto 31. Yoga Beach (Sunrise) / Ladies Gym

A second revision of the master plan, EFTA00807499, adds even more detail. It includes sections labeled "Ladies' Private Room," "Ladies' Gym," and a dedicated zone marked "Private Ladies' Areas."

"Will You Eventually Visit the Ladies' Living Areas?"

The most revealing document is an email from April 19, 2018 (EFTA00541318). In it, Alonso asks Epstein eight specific questions about the design of the Ladies' Residence. The questions paint a picture that is difficult to read as anything other than housing designed to keep young women close to Epstein but physically separated from him, with their own dedicated facilities:

"We understand that master retreat should have a small 'owner's kitchen' nearby for eventual light snacks and light cooking. Should this kitchen be part of the master retreat for your personal use or can the ladies' kitchen service you and them?"

"Should the ladies' kitchen be completely enclosed or can it be open or semi-open into their living/dining room areas?"

"Will you eventually visit the ladies' living areas or is it exclusively for their use? Seating/Dining in their area should be considered only for four people?"

"Do you like the concept of having 4 identical rooms surrounding a new small pool/sunbathing area for the ladies' private use? Or do you prefer that each room is somewhat unique?"

"During our last visit we discussed about putting the ladies' residence where the existing pool deck is; however, as we discussed today, it might still be too close to the master retreat. We are exploring the possibility to send them up to where the existing solar panels are, in order to have more privacy but to keep the driving distance short."

Epstein responded the same day. He did not object to the concept of the Ladies' Residence. His criticisms were purely architectural: "your main compound is dead on arrival. nothing like the images you showed. GSJ presentation is an embarassment for you. bad numbers, eleveations. no toilets. too many seats. CLEAN SLATE there is absolutley nothing worth keeping."

He added one detail about the master retreat: "master needs only a pantry, full kitchen elsehwwere smells etc. with a way to bring food."

"Chateau de l'Horizon"

Throughout the design process, Epstein pushed his architects toward a specific aesthetic. He told Groff to inform the architects that "he is looking at chateau lhorizon the agnelli house in the south of france for an inspiration."

Chateau de l'Horizon is a legendary villa on the French Riviera, built in 1932 by the American actress Maxine Elliott and designed by architect Barry Dierks. It was later owned by the Aga Khan and then by the Agnelli family, Italy's most powerful industrial dynasty. The villa sits on a clifftop above the Mediterranean with a saltwater pool that slides directly into the sea.

Alonso attempted to incorporate the reference. In a June 27, 2018 email, he wrote: "We can certainly make it look very similar to Chateau L'Horizon but first we have to define the functional spaces based on your personal needs which I am positive that are way different than Maxine Elliott's."

Three days later, Alonso submitted a zoning diagram "arranged within an envelope of the model that resembles the supplied information of Chateau L'Horizon as per your specific request."

Epstein was unsatisfied. "I am very unhappy with this, and have spent months of my time and my personal expenses to try to get you to deliver what you had promised," he wrote on June 30, 2018. "I've paid over 150k and have received photos of hotels and drawings that are so highly inaccurate to be totally useless."

That same day, he fired Radyca: "this is silly sorry i have no more time for this, i asked that you copy a building as you were unable to craft any one. I wish you well."

The Firm That Walked Away

But before Radyca was terminated, something else happened. In May 2018, the landscape architecture firm WATG, one of the most prominent hospitality design practices in the world with credits including the Atlantis in Dubai, resigned from the project.

Their departure email, preserved in the DOJ files as EFTA01045719, is terse: WATG "had received information that negatively impacted WATG's association with the project." They returned their initial deposit.

WATG had been hired at Radyca's recommendation in February 2018, just three months earlier. What they learned in those three months that caused them to walk away from a lucrative private island commission remains one of the most important unanswered questions in the Epstein case files.

Six Firms in Two Years

Radyca was not the first, and would not be the last. The DOJ documents reveal a pattern of Epstein cycling through architecture firms at a remarkable pace:

In 2016, the Brazilian architect Arthur Casas submitted a $4.3 million proposal for renovating Great St. James, which Epstein had just purchased. The project was halted.

In March 2017, French architects Philippe Van Den Broek and Kevin Ouvre met Epstein in St. Barthelemy to discuss designs.

In November 2017, Radyca was engaged. In April 2018, Tim Peck, chairman of OBMI, a major Caribbean architecture firm, was invited to tour both islands for a potential project. Peck visited Little St. James on April 27, 2018 with two colleagues but ultimately declined, citing workload.

In May 2018, the London architect John Heah, known for designing Aman resorts and Four Seasons properties, received a USB drive containing drone footage of the islands. By June, Heah was submitting pencil sketches for a hurricane-rated concrete residence on Great St. James, which he described as being designed "to beyond code levels" with "Miami Dade rated hurricane windows."

After firing Radyca in June 2018, Epstein engaged 3BIS Architecture Interieure, a Paris firm. By July, 3BIS had produced a comprehensive design document for a project they titled "VIP: Virgin Island Project, Private Residence." The document, preserved as EFTA00315046, outlines a main residence of 4,922 square meters (approximately 53,000 square feet) and labels the central structure "Le Chateau Horizon." The plans include a master suite, four guest bedrooms, a VIP suite, a cinema, a library, four cabanas, a spa, and separate staff buildings.

January 2019

The construction was supposed to begin in January 2019. Two years of planning, six architecture firms, hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees, and a compound designed with separate, private housing for young women.

Jeffrey Epstein was arrested on July 6, 2019, at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey, on federal charges of sex trafficking of minors. He was found dead in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center on August 10, 2019.

The Ladies' Residence was never built.

All documents referenced in this article are from the U.S. Department of Justice Epstein file releases (DataSets 9, 10, and 11) and are accessible through the Epstein Exposed document database.