A thousand miles from the coast of Florida, the organizers discovered the secret of the immediate danger.
One after another, content creators find their way to Little Saint James, better known as the private island once discovered by sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Armed with cameras, they spent money and fueled further interest in revelations from the recent release of the Epstein files – a series of disclosures by the Justice Department revealing redacted documents compiled and produced during its investigation into Epstein. The disgraced financier committed suicide in his prison cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
Of the more than 15 YouTube videos NBC News reviewed of people filming their trip to Little Saint James, part of the US Virgin Islands, at least nine were posted this year, some within days of each other.
The videos have become very popular and have accumulated more than 52 million views in total.
Most of the videos cover the same subject. Content creators fly to St. Thomas, the nearest island with an airport, and when they arrived, they talked to the locals for tips and rumors about Little Saint James.
From there, they check out Jet Ski and snorkel rentals and swim off the island’s shores or fly drones over it.
YouTubers are fueled by the online interaction that comes with all things Epstein, but also by various online theories about the island and unanswered questions about its role in Epstein’s web of sexual abuse of women and girls.
Travel to the island does not appear to have been approved or approved of late owner, billionaire Stephen Deckoff, who bought Little Saint James and the neighboring Epstein-owned island of Great Saint James for $60 million in 2023. In a press release detailing the purchase, Deckoff had plans to develop “a state-of-the-art, five-star, world-class luxury resort with 25 rooms” scheduled to open last year.
A spokesperson for the Virgin Islands Department of Planning and Natural Resources said in a statement sent to NBC News that it “has not received any plans for resort development in Little or Great Saint James as of March 2026.” Deckoff’s holding company, Black Diamond Capital Management, did not respond to a request for comment.
The US Coast Guard referred NBC News to the US Virgin Islands Police Department for comment. The police department did not respond to a request for comment.
YouTuber Ben Lisi, who posted a video trying to get to the island in February, told NBC News that he chose not to try to get to the island because of legal issues: “The island is owned by a new person now, so I don’t know much about them, but obviously I wanted to respect that.”
But others were willing to take the risk. Jordan-based YouTuber Ahmad Aburob made a video that has now been viewed more than 15 million times, showing him walking down the island and approaching a building called “the temple.”
“I actually jumped right in to make that video because I knew it was going to be viral, and I know it’s in line with my usual content,” he said. Of the eight YouTubers who made Little Saint James videos, including Aburob, their videos of visiting the island are in their top five most viewed videos.
With the recent release of the Epstein files under the Trump administration, interest in the convicted sex offender has grown dramatically over the past month. Searches for “Little James Island” and “Epstein Island” peaked in February, according to Google Trends data.
“The recent release of the Epstein files, that created a trend, and that trend caused YouTubers to go there to ride that trend,” Aburob said.
He said he wanted to try visiting the island after seeing videos from content creators Nico Grigg and Tyler Oliveira doing the same, and said he wanted to enter the island after seeing Grigg only reach the surrounding waters. (He was complaining about stepping on sea urchins as he approached the shore.)
Aburob said he thinks most of the videos are a mix between manufactured drama and genuine curiosity.
“It’s a mix of both,” he said. “As a content creator, it’s your job to create the most entertaining piece. So it’s okay to push through any drama you can get while creating an experience, in my opinion.”
