Probably the most famous and harshest punished person from European royal families for contacts with a pedophile remains former Prince Andrew, whose titles and military honors were revoked by British King Charles III in October.
On Wednesday, he also moved out of the royal estate in Windsor.
A legal document from the case files states that in 2006, the prince and financier asked an exotic dancer for sexual favors at Epstein's home in Florida. They offered the woman $10,000 for a dance, but after the performance, they pressured her into a threesome. When they were satisfied, according to lawyers, they paid the woman only $2,000 and later offered her $250,000 for her silence. The woman also claims that she saw girls who appeared to be around 14 years old at the party.
Another email, apparently from Epstein's accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, appears to confirm that the photo of Andrew with his arm around Virginia Giuffre, who accused him of sexual abuse, is genuine. The former member of the royal family had previously claimed that it was fake.
Giuffre took her own life in April last year after her traumatic experiences. In her memoirs, published a few months after her death, she revealed that Epstein blackmailed influential figures by recording them during intimate moments with underage girls.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that Andrew should testify before a US congressional committee following the new revelations.
The files also mention the prince's ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, known by the nickname Fergie. Epstein wrote: "I think Fergie can now say I'm not a pedophile." In another message, Fergie calls the financier a "legend" and "the brother I always wanted."
On Thursday, the world media reported that the position of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is also shaking. In December 2024, he appointed Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the US, even though his ties to Epstein were known.
Mandelson is under investigation by the police because, according to documents, in 2009 and 2010 he provided Epstein with a memorandum on the possible sale of British assets and tax changes and informed him in advance of the European Union's planned €500 billion bailout package during the debt crisis.
A child is also mentioned in connection with the Norwegian princess
Norwegian Crown Princess Mette-Marit, who was in close contact with a pedophile between 2011 and 2014, is facing equally embarrassing moments. Boris Nikolič, Bill Gates' former chief advisor for science and technology, described her to the millionaire as "not a typical member of the royal family."
And indeed, Mette-Marit went much further in her communication with the criminal than protocol allows. For example, she asked him whether it was "inappropriate for a mother to suggest a screen saver for her 15-year-old son featuring two naked women carrying surfboards." At the same time, she described him as "very charming."
When Epstein wrote in 2012 that he was in Paris "on the hunt for a wife," she replied that the French capital was "good for adultery," but that "Scandinavians produce better women."
Mette-Marit also visited Epstein in person on several occasions. In one of Epstein's emails, Nikolič even asked if the princess wanted to bear his child.
She only broke off contact in 2014 when, in her own words, she got the impression that he was trying to abuse her position.
After the case was publicized, she admitted to a serious lapse in judgment and regretted not having thoroughly investigated his past. She described the whole situation as "embarrassing." Since then, political commentators have been debating whether Mette-Marit can become queen after this.
Let's stay with the Norwegians
The files also mention Børge Brende , former Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs and President of the World Economic Forum (WEF) since 2017. He attended three working dinners with Epstein and communicated with him via email and text messages, but they did not write about girls.
The WEF has launched an independent audit into the matter, during which Brende will remain in office as president. He claims that if he had known about Epstein's illegal activities, he "would never have met him."
The situation is worse for former Norwegian Prime Minister Thorbjørn Jagland, who demonstrably met with Epstein while serving as Secretary General of the Council of Europe and Chairman of the Nobel Committee.
The Norwegian police have stripped him of his immunity and are investigating whether he accepted gifts, travel funding, or loans in connection with these positions.
Interestingly, the pedophile repeatedly asked him for help in arranging a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The men regularly spoke on the phone, wrote to each other about "girls," and the politician planned a trip to Epstein's island with his family.
His lawyer, Sigurd Klomsæt, said that Jagland first wants to verify the authenticity of some of the published documents. He denied all sexual allegations.
"Our Sofia"
The Swedish royal court has also been going through tough times since last December. Princess Sofia, a former reality TV star and model, even skipped the Nobel Prize ceremony with the Swedish royal family when it came out that she had met with the financier several times.
The Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter published emails between Epstein and financier Barbro Ehnbom, who is described as Sofia's mentor. She introduced her to the predator as a budding actress who had just arrived in New York and asked if Epstein would like to meet her. He replied that he was in the Caribbean and could send her a plane ticket.
The Swedish royal court confirmed that Sofia was introduced to Epstein in 2005 and that they met several times, but she did not travel to the Caribbean to see him at that time. It also emphasized that they had not met for twenty years, so their last contact was before 2008, when Epstein was convicted of soliciting prostitution from minors.
However, her name appears again in the January batch of declassified files. A redacted contact with the same initials as Barbro Ehnbom sent a photo of Sofia to the criminal in 2010. The subject line of the message reads "our Sofia." Another email apparently contains a photo of Sofia and Prince Carl Philip, as it says that "they are so beautiful together."
British media write about KGB operation
However, the British media outlets The Telegraph and Daily Mail began to speculate whether Epstein was a member of the Russian intelligence services whose task was to blackmail and discredit Western elites. They called it a "KGB honey trap."
As evidence, they cite that Epstein often wrote about "Russian girls" and offered them to various prominent visitors, who then collected compromising material. In his communication with former Slovak Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajčák, he also referred to Russian women as "Russia's best export."
However, based on the files, other European countries (Poland, Lithuania, Latvia) also began investigating possible white slavery, as several models from these countries are among those mentioned. On Friday, the Polish Minister of Justice even stated that the second and third most important people in Epstein's entire staff were Polish. "We finally have evidence that this recruitment of women, possibly even minors, took place in Poland," said Waldemar Żurek.
At the same time, the Telegraph writes that Epstein was allegedly recruited into the world of espionage by British magnate Robert Maxwell, who is believed to have worked for the Israeli secret service Mossad.
According to the files, an FBI informant claimed that Epstein's lawyer Alan Dershowitz told then-Florida federal prosecutor Alex Acosta that Epstein was connected to American and allied intelligence services.
The files reveal that Epstein was a longtime intermediary and friend of former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and allegedly underwent intelligence training under his guidance.
Despite this, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk described the investigation into the trail leading to the Urals as a matter of national security. However, he did not present any evidence to support his claims.
He apparently never met Putin
The name Putin appears hundreds of times in the files. The millionaire repeatedly tried to get close to the Russian president.
He wanted to talk to him about the economy and foreign investment, but he also offered his experience with "how to deal with Trump" when the American and Russian leaders were to meet at a summit in Helsinki in 2018.
He repeatedly asked the aforementioned Norske Jagland for help in organizing the meeting. However, his repeated efforts suggest that Epstein was unsuccessful in his attempts.
On Tuesday, the Kremlin responded that it had not received any offer from Epstein to meet with Putin.
When asked about Tusk's statements and Western media reports portraying the financier as a Russian spy, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov replied: "I would like to make fun of such versions, but let's not waste time."
(reuters, tasr, est)