The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Island Luck’s co-founders yesterday both slammed claims they were involved in human and firearms trafficking as alleged in a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) report released in the files on convicted paedophile and sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein.

Sebas Bastian and Adrian Fox both told Tribune Business in separate statements that they had never “met or associated” with the late financier after their named were both included in September 30, 2021, FBI document which detailed how an informant had alleged in an interview that “Epstein controlled the Bahamian and US governments”.

Mr Bastian, currently campaigning as the PLP’s Fort Charlotte candidate, asserted “I don’t do fool” and added: “The closest I come to Epstein, Jepstein or any Stein is the stain on my shirt.” Signalling that he will not be distracted from the upcoming election, he added: “We have a country to build and I’m focused on helping with that.”

Mr Fox, meanwhile, voiced “grave concern” about the FBI report’s contents, and said: “I want to categorically state that I have never had any personal interaction with him [Epstein], nor have I engaged in any activities that could be construed as illegal, including the sale or trafficking of firearms or women.”

The two web shop gaming moguls were far from the only Bahamians named in the same FBI report. Also featuring was Craig Flowers, principal of the rival FML Group of Companies, though he was mentioned separately from Messrs Bastian and Fox and not linked, or connected to, claims of arms and human trafficking. Mr Flowers did not respond to requests for comment before press time last night, so Tribune Business is not detailing what was reported about him, but there is no suggestion that he has comitted any wrongdoing.

Also included, although his name was spelt incorrectly, was Marvin Dames, the former national security minister and an ex-deputy commissioner of the Royal Bahamas Police Force who, like Mr Bastian, is standing as a candidate in the upcoming general election - for the Free National Movement (FNM) in Mount Moriah.

The FBI report said Mr Dames, who was named as ‘Marvin James’, brought the informant who made the allegations against the web shop gaming chiefs to the US embassy in Nassau who “took her information”. The ex-Cabinet minister yesterday confirmed to Tribune Business that this element of the report was accurate, although he challenged the document’s authenticity.

The informant’s name was redacted, or blacked out, in the FBI report. However, Tribune Business knows her identity and she is a wealthy US expatriate resident of The Bahamas who owns property, and lives in, Paradise Island’s high-end Ocean Club Estates. This newspaper has chosen not to name the woman, who is a fitness trainer by profession, for legal reasons.