- New details reported by Vicky Ward for CNN suggest that the friendship expired in the spring of 2011, due to a legal scuffle between Epstein and Prince Andrew's ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, who in 2011 admitted to accepting over $9,000 from Epstein to help pay an employee she owed money to.
- In her 2011 statement made to apologize for the transaction, the Duchess of York referred to Epstein as a pedophile, saying "I abhor pedophilia."
- CNN reports that Epstein threatened a defamation lawsuit against Ferguson if the word "pedophile" was not retracted from her statement. He commandeered a legal team that eventually went on to sue the late financier for unpaid bills.
- Prince Andrew has been accused by one of Epstein's most prominent victims of being a willing participant in the alleged sex trafficking operation Epstein commandeered, and she has accused the prince of assaulting her on three separate occasions. Through Buckingham Palace, Prince Andrew has denied her accusations.
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New details reveal the friendship between Epstein and Prince Andrew dissolved after the Duchess of York called Epstein a 'pedophile'
Though the late financier Jeffrey Epstein and Prince Andrew have a well-chronicled, controversial 20-year friendship , it has never been clear when and why the two's relationship petered out before Epstein's arrest and death by suicide this summer.
A composite image of Prince Andrew, Jeffrey Epstein, and Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York
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Since the arrest of Jeffrey Epstein in June on charges of sex trafficking and conspiracy, along with his death by suicide in federal prison in August, the friendships he shared with powerful figures have come under increased scrutiny.
One of the most prominent friendships was between Epstein and Prince Andrew , who said in a statement through Buckingham Palace that he met the late financier in 1999 and saw him "infrequently and probably no more than only once or twice a year," staying in more than one of the convicted sex offender's residences.
Prince Andrew continued to see and be photographed with Epstein after his release from prison, when he was convicted on two counts of soliciting prositution from a minor. In August, the Daily Mail unearthed photographs of the prince at Epstein's Manhattan residence in 2010.
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Now, new details have emerged through Vicky Ward's reporting for CNN on when and why the two's friendship petered out, which she concludes was in the spring of 2011.
Apparently, Epstein threatened legal action against Prince Andrew's ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, after she referred to him as a pedophile in a statement acknowledging and apologizing for accepting over $9,000 from the financier in 2011 to pay off an employee she owed money to.
After renewed media attention into the Duke and Duchess of Yorks connection to Epstein, the financier threatened a defamation suit
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In February 2011, The New York Post published an article about Prince Andrew staying with Epstein in his Manhattan residence, referring to the two as "aging horndogs" and summarizing Epstein's legal status as a Level Three sex offender who solicited a 14-year-old for prostitution in Palm Beach, Florida.
The resulting media attention led to increased scrutiny of the relationship between Prince Andrew, his ex-wife Ferguson, and the financier. In March, Ferguson issued a statement admitting that she accepted over $9,000 from Epstein, in which she said "I abhor pedophilia," and said she had no knowledge of Epstein's criminal sexual history.
The payment was reported to be orchestrated by Prince Andrew, who appealed to Epstein to help Ferguson with her well-documented debts.
Ferguson's publicist, James Henderson, told CNN he then received a "deeply unpleasant" phone call from Epstein, who threatened to sue the Duchess of York for defamation unless the mention of him being a pedophile was retracted from her statement. Epstein also sent a letter to Ferguson's lawyers in the UK, but Henderson advised her against retracting the statement.
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Epstein's legal representation at the time was through the firm Sitrick & Company, whose founder advised Epstein to hire a new lawyer in the UK. That lawyer, Paul Tweed, worked with Sitrick & Co. to construct a retraction to propose to the Duchess. Henderson told CNN that at one point, he was shown a draft that would retract every part of her initial statement.
However, the retraction never came to fruition, and Sitrick & Co. sued Epstein in 2014 for more than $71,000 in unpaid fees. In addition, Epstein's former UK lawyer, Tweed, became friends with the Duke and Duchess, who would go on to hire him herself. The Telegraph reports that Tweed and Prince Andrew were photographed together just last week playing golf.
Not only was Prince Andrew friends with Epstein, but he has been accused of participating in his alleged sex trafficking operation
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Despite in the breach in their friendship, Prince Andrew was not able to permanently shake his association with Epstein. Friday, one of Epstein's most prominent accusers, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, reiterated her accusations against Prince Andrew on-camera for NBC News.
Giuffre says the prince "was an abuser" and "a participant" in Epstein's sex trafficking operation. In the same New York Post article that jump-started the end of Epstein and Prince Andrew's friendship, it was reported that the financier's ex-girlfriend and alleged "madam," Ghislaine Maxwell, introduced the sex offender to the royal in the first place.
Maxwell, a British socialite, is also who Giuffre says recruited her into Epstein's operation, and who introduced her, in turn, to Prince Andrew. Giuffre has accused the prince of sexually assaulting her on three occasions, the first being at Maxwell's London residence.
Giuffre says Prince Andrew, Epstein, and Maxwell took her to the high-end club Tramp, where the prince bought her vodka. She says she was 17 at the time. The legal age of consent in the UK is 16, and the legal drinking age is 18. Giuffre says Maxwell directed her to have sex with the prince, who would also assault her later at Epstein's Manhattan residence, and on his private island in the US Virgin Islands.
Prince Andrew and Buckingham Palace have vehemently denied Giuffre's accusations. In his August statement through the palace, Prince Andrew also wrote that "I deplore the exploitation of any human being and would not condone, participate in, or encourage any such behavior."
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Representatives for the Duke and Duchess of York didn't immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.
- Read more:
- Inside Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein's controversial 20-year friendship
- Prince Andrew flew on Jeffrey Epstein's 'Lolita express' private jet with a Russian model who was friends with Trump
- Prince Andrew says he stayed in several of Jeffrey Epstein's homes but only saw the disgraced financier 'once or twice a year'
- Prince Andrew reportedly defended Jeffrey Epstein after his 2008 sex crime conviction and called objections to their friendship 'puritan'
See Also:
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- A victim of Jeffrey Epstein says Prince Andrew bought her vodka at a London club when she was 17 before having sex with her
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