Stacey Plaskett, the delegate to the U.S House of Representatives from the Virgin Islands, is unlikely to return the thousands of dollars donated to her campaign by Jeffrey Epstein, a billionaire sex offender recently arrested for child sex trafficking.
Plaskett, a Democrat, has served as the island territory’s representative to Congress since first being elected in 2014. Throughout her tenure, Plaskett has received $8,100 from Epstein, who owns his own private island in the Virgin Islands territory called Little Saint James. The majority of the money, $5,400, was donated during Plaskett’s 2016 reelection campaign when she faced a strong primary opponent. Epstein’s latest donation of $2,700 — the maximum contribution allowed at the time under FEC guidelines — was during the 2018 campaign cycle.
The donations are the largest Epstein has given to any political candidate since having pled guilty in the state of Florida to one charge of soliciting and procuring prostitution from an individual under 18 years of age.
Plaskett’s office told CNBC on Monday the congresswoman was “unlikely to return the contribution.”
“I’m pretty sure she’s not,” Mike McQueery, a spokesman for the congresswoman, said. According to CNBC’s report, McQueery “declined to comment further” about Epstein’s legal problems or how Plaskett knew the billionaire sex offender. – READ MORE