Two weeks later, all but $499,759 had vanished.

According to Virgin Islands magistrate judge, Carolyn Hernon-Purcell, “There’s no explanation” for why Southern Country would be receiving checks from the estate.

A lawyer for the estate responded that some of the payment had been made in error, but the judge was not satisfied with his response and asked him to follow up with a fuller accounting.

The checks — listed in the estate’s transactions for routine payments such as cable-TV bills and phone service for Mr. Epstein’s many properties — stand out. The list of payments were filed with Judge Hermon-Purcell, who is overseeing his $635 million estate, including the possible establishment of a compensation fund for his victims. –New York Times

The Times notes that during roughly the same period as Southern Country International bank was established, the Virgin Islands granted a lucrative tax break to a company owned by Epstein, Southern Trust, which was “developing sophisticated algorithms to mine DNA and financial databases,” according to the report.

Curiously, “The tax break came from the territory’s Economic Development Authority, which was approved by the territory’s former governor, John de Jongh Jr., while his wife, Cecile, worked for Mr. Epstein. Neither Ms. de Jongh nor her husband returned messages seeking comment,” the Times reports.

The tax break, granted in 2013, was a boon for Mr. Epstein. Southern Trust generated about $300 million in profit in six years, and he paid an effective tax rate of about 3.9 percent. The source of Southern Trust’s revenue is not clear; the bare-bones corporate filings made by the company in the Virgin Islands do not list any clients. –New York Times

Last month, Virgin Islands Attorney General Denise N. George sued Epstein’s estate, arguing that the deceased pedophile had tarnished the territory’s reputation. The lawsuit seeks to seize Epstein’s private islands and dissolve his shell companies she says were fronts for his sex-trafficking enterprise.