Revelations continue to emerge regarding former acquaintances of convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein
NEW YORK – You would think by now that Jeffrey Epstein’s former associates would have learned a valuable lesson: the truth will come out, even if it takes years to do so.
Friendship with Epstein is like a cancer that kills the reputation of anyone who touches it. The main difference between those whose reputations have been shredded and others is that the full details haven’t come out yet.
The latest to get this reminder was Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, whose 14-year-old email to the convicted paedophile praising him as her “supreme friend” has cast her into fresh purgatory.
Now, it seems like the trickle of revelations could become a flood – and one person, still languishing behind bars, stands to benefit.
Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving 20 years in prison for trafficking underage girls for Epstein, knows plenty of secrets, and is likely to have access to incriminating documents.
To be clear, just because somebody knew Epstein or associated with him doesn’t mean they were engaged in criminality or the abuse of underage girls. But it often raises profound questions about their judgment.
Ferguson’s email emerged earlier this month in an expose by the Mail on Sunday, and contrasted sharply with an interview she gave in March 2011, a month before the message was sent, when she said her contacts with Epstein were a mistake.
In the email, Fergie is apologising for having to denigrate him in public.
Again and again, the excuses of Epstein’s former friends for associating with him fall apart when we finally get to see how they spoke to him in their own words.
For years, Lord Peter Mandelson dodged accountability for his friendship with Epstein by claiming that nobody could have known about his habits before he was investigated by the police in 2006.
Yet the publication of Epstein’s 50th birthday book, from 2003, raised awkward truths. Mandelson’s contribution was a 10-page letter calling Epstein his “best pal”.
Leaked emails from June 2008, the day before Epstein reported to jail, then revealed that Mandelson had written to Epstein, saying: “You have to be incredibly resilient, fight for early release and be philosophical about it as much as you can… Your friends stay with you and love you.”
After that became public, Sir Keir Starmer sacked Mandelson from his role as the UK ambassador to the US, a job he should never have been appointed to in the first place.
In Prince Andrew’s case, his infamous BBC interview in 2019 is what made him into a pariah. Even so, he is yet to go through a full accounting of his friendship with Epstein, and when it comes, his standing may fall even further.
A report earlier this month claimed there were more than 100 emails between Andrew and Epstein, and documents released by the US Congress last week showed payments of $200 for massages for Andrew in 2000.
Just as with Mandelson, the Duke hasn’t hit rock bottom yet, and when he does – and this takes some doing at this point – it will be an even bigger mess for the royal family.
That same warning could be applied to anyone who contributed to Epstein’s “birthday book”: buckle up, your turn may be coming, it could just be a matter of time.
What’s especially intriguing about some of the recent revelations isn’t so much the time as who might be behind them.
The Wall Street Journal first broke the news that Donald Trump had allegedly written a message in Epstein’s 50th birthday book. After the President denied it, and sued the publication for $10 billion, the newspaper published the message in full, and now the book itself has become public.
Trump still claims he didn’t author the entry written in his name.
Then there’s the Sarah Ferguson’s email. Someone has likely been sitting on that for over a decade, and has now released it to cause maximum damage.
There are only a handful of people who might have had access to it, and top of the list is Maxwell, who is serving 20 years in prison for trafficking underage girls for Epstein.
After the stories about Trump were published, Maxwell was interviewed by a top US Justice Department lawyer and was transferred to a more comfortable prison, an unusual turn of events that sparked speculation she could receive a presidential pardon.
In the justice department interview, Maxwell reportedly said that she was suspicious of the Duchess of York for “pulling the moves” on Epstein, and even dubbed her a “frenemy”.
If Maxwell is indeed the leaker, then Prince Andrew is officially on notice: if she can take down his ex-wife so clinically, then the Duke should really watch out.
