An anonymous accuser has changed her story and ended her lawsuit alleging that Virgin Islands belonger Dr. Henry Jarecki coerced her into sex slavery in the early 2010s with the help of late sex-offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Dr. Jarecki, a 91-year-old billionaire psychiatrist who owns Guana and Norman islands in the VI, had strongly denied the allegations from the start, saying that he had a “consensual, non-secretive and mutually respectful relationship” with the female model identified in the June lawsuit as “Jane Doe 11.”
Ms. Doe’s New York-based lawyers did not respond to requests for comment, but they filed a document on Friday effectively ending the case. And on Monday, one of Mr. Jarecki’s lawyers provided the Beacon with a statement he attributed to Ms. Doe.
“Since filing my anonymous complaint, I have reviewed the history and evidence of my relationship with Dr. Jarecki, which was many years ago, and have now come to the conclusion that he did not mean me any harm,” she said in the statement. “I was never a patient of his, and I travelled with him voluntarily.”
The news agency Reuters reported that Ms. Doe’s lawyers had confirmed the statement, which was provided to the Beacon by Mr. Jarecki’s New York-based attorney Gary Mennitt, of the firm Dechert LLP.
Departure
The statement is a dramatic departure from the allegations in Ms. Doe’s June lawsuit, which alleged that Mr. Epstein referred her to Dr. Jarecki for mental-health treatment after sexually abusing her himself.
After that, the lawsuit claimed, Mr. Jarecki raped her repeatedly in New York in addition to sexually abusing her on “his private island” in the Caribbean.
The 17-page lawsuit also alleged that Dr. Jarecki helped “enable” the sex-trafficking organisation operated by the late Mr. Epstein, a financier and former United States VI resident who died in a New York prison while awaiting trial for abusing dozens of young women over the course of many years.
Mr. Epstein had made global headlines for years, with his activities at Little St. James Island near St. Thomas attracting particular notoriety. But until the lawsuit against Dr. Jarecki, this territory had mostly stayed out of news stories linked to the case.
After the lawsuit was issued, Dr. Jarecki pledged to challenge its “demonstrably untrue claims in the appropriate forum.” Months of legal wrangling followed in a New York federal court, with Dr. Jarecki’s attorneys attempting to get the case dismissed.
In their most recent filing, on Jan. 10, they challenged Ms. Doe’s timeline of events, calling her claims “ludicrous” and noting public records that they said contradicted her story. They also said she filed her claim too late.
On April 4, Ms. Doe’s attorney Andrew Villacastin, of the firm Boies Schiller Flexner, filed a notice of voluntary dismissal with prejudice to end the lawsuit.
Neither the statement from Mr. Mennitt nor court records further explain Ms. Doe’s decision or contain any mention of a settlement.
VI ties
Dr. Jarecki is known in the VI for his ownership of Guana Island, which he purchased in 1975, and Norman Island, which he bought in 1999.
He was also an early investor in VI telecommunications company CCT, and he has served on the board of governors of the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College.
Additionally, Dr. Jarecki is known for his founding, continued support and long-time chairmanship of the non-profit Youth Empowerment Project in Fat Hogs Bay, which he formed with then-Seventh District representative Dr. Kedrick Pickering and several “like-minded individuals” in 2004, according to the group’s website.
According to a 2014 article in Connecticut’s New Haven Register newspaper, Dr. Jarecki’s net worth was estimated that year at around $1.3 billion. Most of his fortune came from his forays in commodities trading, which began while he was teaching psychiatry at Yale Medical School in the 1970s, the newspaper reported.
He also was a prolific entrepreneur, and with his son Andrew he founded the entertainment directory service Moviefone, which was sold to internet pioneer America Online in 1999.
British Caribbean News