Legendary skateboarder Tony Hawk has denied getting married on Jeffrey Epstein’s island – in response to it being mentioned in the files relating to the deceased sex offender.
Hawk married lingerie store owner Lhotse Merriam, the third of his four wives, in 2006.
Photographs from the celebration are officially labelled on Getty Images as having been taken on the Tavarua Island resort in Fiji. Tavarua is a well-known surfing island and Hawk had hit the water there in 2004 at the Kelly Slater Invitational.
Moreover, a wide shot of the island from the wedding day connects to similar images of Tavarua Island when plugged into Google’s image search.
However, speculation has spread like wildfire after the photographer was named as Mark Epstein – who happens to share the name of Jeffrey’s brother.
Additionally, in file EFTA00038674, an alleged victim of Epstein claims she was on his Little Saint James island when Prince Andrew was there and ‘when Tony Hawk got married on the island’.
Tony Hawk has denied getting married on Jeffrey Epstein’s island and says he never knew the prolific sex offender
Getty Images’ record states that he was married in Fiji, but the photographer shares his name with Epstein’s brother and the skateboarder is mentioned in the notorious files
One of Epstein’s alleged victims claimed that she was on the notorious island ‘when Tony Hawk got married’ there
It is the only time he is mentioned in the files – besides two mentions of one of his console games – and indeed the only public claim that he was ever on the island.
Hawk took to Instagram to shoot down any speculation that he was on Epstein’s island or indeed had ever met the man, who died by suicide in jail in 2019 while awaiting his trial on sex trafficking charges in New York.
‘One of the guests in 2006 shot photos of the Fiji ceremony and licensed them to Getty Images,’ Hawk said.
‘His name is [coincidentally] Mark Epstein, an accomplished sports action photographer from Wyoming and of no relation to Jeffrey Epstein (who I never met and whose island I never visited).
‘This is all easily verifiable information. Facts are not fungible.’
He then apologised to the photographer for being ‘pulled into the misinformation vortex’.
Hawk also provided the years and locations for his other three marriages, with all of those matching up with the reported details which are out there.
His first marriage was to Cindy Dunbar, who he wedded at their home in Fallbrook, California, in 1990.
An aerial view of Little Saint James island
Hawk suggested that people were confusing his wedding photographer with Epstein’s brother
Hawk’s second marriage was to Erin Lee, who he wedded at the Hilton Hotel in San Diego, California, in 1996.
Then, there was the union with Merriam, and finally he married his current wife Catherine Goodman at Adare Manor in County Limerick, Ireland, in 2015.
The Epstein Files are comprised of millions of documents, images and videos pertaining to Epstein’s criminal activities. Being mentioned in them does not necessarily indicate criminality.
Epstein was first in 2008 of soliciting prostitution from a minor, for which he was registered as a sex offender.
Hawk, widely regarded as the greatest skater in history, retired from professional competition in 2003.
