Hundreds of phones once stepped onto Epstein’s island — and their location data is now being sold openly, no warrant required. th

Location Data Sold in the Open: Epstein’s Island Can Now Be Tracked Down to the Centimeter

When Jeffrey Epstein was arrested and later died in custody in 2019, his private island Little St. James became the ultimate symbol of secrecy and untouchable power. What few expected, however, is that the secrecy is no longer guarded by stone walls or armed security — it is being torn open by the very mobile location data carried by hundreds of people who once set foot there.

WIRED purchased and analyzed mobile location records from more than 200 devices spanning 2016–2019, sourced from the data broker Near Intelligence. The result: 11,279 precise GPS coordinates, accurate to the centimeter thanks to geo-fencing technology embedded in mobile advertising. The data paints a clear picture of the routes: most visitors arrived via Cyril E. King Airport in St. Thomas, then transferred to Epstein’s private Boeing 727 (“Lolita Express”) or his Sikorsky S-76 helicopter, before docking at the island’s private pier. After leaving, the devices returned to familiar addresses across Florida, New York, Massachusetts, and even gated communities in Michigan or sprawling 8,000-acre ranches in New Mexico.

What is truly alarming is not the identities (WIRED withheld specific names to avoid legal risk), but how effortlessly this data was obtained and sold. No warrant. No probable cause. Just a few thousand dollars and access to the open ad-tech exchanges where location data is traded daily like any other commodity. Near Intelligence claims to hold location records on 1.6 billion people across 44 countries — and in most places outside Europe, there is almost no meaningful regulation stopping it.

This is not merely a look back at Epstein’s past. It is a warning about the present: personal privacy is being eroded at an unprecedented scale. When a phone in your pocket can reveal exactly where you’ve been, how long you stayed, and where you went home — without your knowledge — who is truly protected? Europe’s GDPR has severely restricted data flows from that region, but in the United States and many other countries, the rules remain dangerously loose.

Epstein’s island is no longer a hidden fortress. It has become living proof that in the age of big data, no one can truly disappear — not even those who once believed they could buy silence.