Naomi Campbell’s name appears nearly 300 times in the Jeffrey Epstein files, and the documents show she requested flights on his private jet, planned meetings at his New York mansion, and invited him to events around the world. FBI interviews with unnamed victims stated that Epstein personally introduced them to Campbell at social events. Those same victims said they saw her at Epstein’s mansion and on his island, including after his 2008 conviction. Campbell, who owns a private eye-shaped island off the coast of Turkey, has denied any connection to Epstein’s criminal activities.
Her team said a 2010 email from Ghislaine Maxwell offering her “two playmates” referred to male companions. Records show documented contact between Campbell and Epstein from 2001 to 2016. Her lawyer has said she had no knowledge of his crimes until his 2019 arrest. The broader question raised by her island ownership, and that of several other celebrities, is why private properties with no press access and no oversight remain largely unregulated after the Epstein case exposed what can happen in such settings.
Oprah Winfrey does not own a traditional private island, but her properties in Africa operate with similar isolation. In 2007, she opened the $40 million Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa. In 2011, a dorm matron at the school, Virginia Tainton Mokopo, was accused of physically and sexually abusing students. The students themselves made the allegations.
She was eventually acquitted, but questions followed about how the alleged abuse went undetected. In 2024, more than a decade later, new allegations of inappropriate conduct surfaced at the same school. Winfrey’s foundation denied everything. Winfrey also owns private retreat estates across Africa where celebrities and powerful people are known to gather, with no public transparency about who visits or what happens there.
Richard Branson bought Necker Island in the British Virgin Islands in 1979 for $120,000. Today, it is estimated to be worth $200 million and has become one of the most exclusive private resorts on the planet. The guest list includes Barack Obama, Princess Diana, Prince Harry, Kate Middleton, Nelson Mandela, Tony Blair, Mariah Carey, Kate Moss, and Harry Styles. In 2007, Branson bought the neighboring Mosquito Island for $12.
7 million. Both islands can be rented entirely for private events, corporate retreats, celebrity weddings, and political summits. After a 2011 fire destroyed his home, Branson rebuilt with even more privacy features and security. David Copperfield owns four private islands spanning 700 acres in the Bahamas, including the main island Musha Cay, which he bought in 2006 for $50 million.
Musha Cay rents for $57,000 per night with a four-night minimum, meaning a stay costs at least $228,000. The property features five luxury villas, a private beach movie theater, and a “secret village” only accessible through a hidden statue. Copperfield has publicly claimed he found a fountain of youth somewhere on the island. Leonardo DiCaprio paid $1.
75 million for Blackadore Caye, a 104-acre private island off the coast of Belize, in 2005. He announced plans to turn it into an eco-friendly luxury resort and talked about it at environmental events. Construction has still not started. Environmental activists pushed back, saying the resort could damage the nearby reef ecosystem.
The approval process stalled repeatedly, and questions remain about whether the resort was ever the real plan. DiCaprio dated Naomi Campbell in 1995. Faith Hill and Tim McGraw own L’île de Anges, French for “Island of Angels,” in the Bahamas. It functions as a private family retreat, and no major controversies are attached to it.
The couple has one of the most solid reputations in music. They are included because the point is not about them specifically, but about the system. Private islands by design operate with zero mandatory oversight. No law enforcement jurisdiction, no press access, no requirement to report who visits or what happens there.
The same structural conditions that allowed Epstein to hide his crimes for over a decade still apply to every island on this list and dozens more. The DOJ, which recently released millions of Epstein files, has not made a move to address that gap. No claims have been made that any of these people are doing anything illegal on their properties.
The question is why, after everything learned from the Epstein case, there is still no oversight system for private islands owned by the extremely wealthy.