Does Joe Biden Own an Island? What We Know About 'Water Island'

In recent days the claim that President Joe Biden owns an island in the U.S. Virgin Islands near Little St. James—the island formerly owned by disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein—have re-emerged on social media, offering a new avenue for conspiracy theorists.

"When you find out who owns the island next to Epstein's," reads a caption on an Instagram video, posted on May 7 and seemingly referring to Water Island. "Spoiler alert: it's Joe Biden," the poster then says.

The video has since been flagged as misinformation, playing on a falsehood that has been circulating since 2020—but has gained new traction since news broke that Little St. James, once Epstein's holding in the U.S. Virgin Islands, had been sold.

In July 2020, a Facebook post used an image that stated Ghislaine Maxwell—a former socialite who was found guilty of sex trafficking charges in connection to Epstein—"owns a submarine company and its based in the U.S. Virgin Islands."

It went on to say that "another private island a short distance away" had a submarine base, before asking: "Do you want to know who OWNS THIS PRIVATE ISLAND that is NEXT TO EPSTEIN'S and has MAXWELL'S SUB SITTING IN IT? JOE BIDEN!"

Before the post was taken down it received around 21,000 shares. Fact checks from the time show that the image had been reposted by other accounts.

Maxwell owned The TerraMar Project, which she described as an ocean conservation non-profit, but it was closed down in 2019 not long before she was arrested in New York.

According to local accounts, a U.S. military installation on Water Island was partially constructed during World War II to protect a submarine base on nearby St. Thomas, but it does not appear to have a base of its own.

"Did you know Joe Biden's family owned land on Water island literally right next to Epstein's Island?" several Twitter users have said in the past few weeks, one post receiving 37,100 views as of 3 a.m. ET on Wednesday. Another told followers to "connect the dots people."

Another user noted the proximity of Water Island to Little St. James and suggested that the two were a five-minute boat ride apart, which would require "no logs" unlike flights.

However, coast to coast, the two islands sit around 7.4 miles apart, which would take a boat travelling at 15 knots around 26 minutes to travel between the two.

Newsweek approached the White House via email for comment Tuesday. A spokesperson told the Associated Press that the online claims were "false."

In 2020, Politico published a story which detailed how the U.S. President's younger brother, James, had bought a one-acre parcel of land on Water Island in May 2005 for $150,000. Part of the land was later sold to a third party.

At the time, the news outlet said that the land had been left undeveloped and that Joe Biden had vacationed elsewhere on Water Island since the 2005 purchase. AP said Biden had visited St. Croix, another island in the group, while vice president and president.

So while Joe Biden doesn't own an island near to that of the now-deceased Epstein, his brother owns a parcel of apparently undeveloped land on Water Island.

It is unclear why such claims are resurfacing online now. However, on May 3, SD Investments LLC, a firm led by billionaire investor Stephen Deckoff, announced the acquisition of Great St. James and Little St. James to develop a luxury resort anticipated to open in 2025.

"I've been proud to call the U.S. Virgin Islands home for more than a decade and am tremendously pleased to be able to bring the area a world-class destination befitting its natural grace and beauty," Deckoff said in a statement.

Deckoff paid $60 million for the islands, Forbes reported, less than half of the original $125 million asking price.

Epstein had owned both islands, but Little St. James was his primary residence and has been named as the location of many of his sex trafficking activities. An attorney for the estate told the Wall Street Journal in 2022 that the sale of the islands would contribute towards settling lawsuits.