Newly released documents shed fresh light on the depth of Jeffrey Epstein’s connection to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor when he was the Duke of York and their mutual interest in business deals in China.
The late paedophile financier told a business associate that Andrew was “now allowed to make money”, weeks after he left his role as a UK trade envoy, suggesting that Epstein was seeking business opportunities with the prince.
Epstein had provided advice to Jes Staley, the former head of Barclays, about how to do business in China and suggested that Andrew was willing to help.
In an email to Staley on September 28, 2010, Epstein said: “Prince Andrew would like much more to represent casanov in china than tim Collins.”
It is thought that the email, which was sent during Andrew’s time as a UK trade envoy, was a reference to JPMorgan Chase’s UK investment bank, JPMorgan Cazenove. Tim Collins is an American financier and chief executive of Ripplewood Holdings.
The following year, Andrew had been forced to relinquish his role as special trade representative over his friendship with Epstein and questions over his judgment after meetings with the son of Muammar Gaddafi, the former Libyan leader, and his decision to host the son-in-law of Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, the ousted Tunisian president, at Buckingham Palace.
The revelation features in 300,000 pages of documents dubbed the Epstein files, released by US authorities last week.
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor in April this year before he was stripped of his royal titles
MAX MUMBY/INDIGO/GETTY IMAGES
Epstein is understood to have been advising Staley, a former JP Morgan executive, about how to develop a strategy for growth in China. On October 25, 2009, Epstein wrote to Staley to say: “One big problem that in china is how to maintain good relationship (Guangxi) with the employees/ Chinese emphasize courtesy and face-saving. This has to do with China’s culture. Being courteous to government official,s and employees are essential. Chinese people are hospitable, but it is easy to insult them .. ; like blacks who don’t want to be dissed. This craziness is accentuated in the north, which has complex rules of ‘face-saving’. I will send someone to you this week for a coffee, that will explain some of this”.
On September 2, 2010, Staley emailed Epstein and said: “And I just had the most senior meeting [JP Morgan Chase] has had save for Jamie [Dimon, JP Morgan Chase chief executive] meeting with Wang Qishan. I spent almost 2 hours with Minister Li Yuanchao of the Organization Department. He will be in the Standing Committee in the next Government. I will tell u what he offered/asked when we meet. Very cool. I’m seeing the Prince this afternoon.”
Wang Qishan is a longstanding ally of President Xi and fronted China’s controversial anti-corruption campaign, while Li was a senior figure in the Chinese Communist Party. The “Prince” is understood to be a reference to Andrew.
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Writing to Staley on August 31, 2011, a month after Andrew stepped down from his position as the UK’s special representative for international trade and investment, Epstein outlined future investment opportunities.
It is thought that Epstein specifically made reference to a deal with JP Morgan.
In an email, Epstein wrote: “There can be a relation with JPM and me. Jpm and a new or current investment boutique . ( Pritsker?, David Stern?, ( prince Andrew? , he is now allowed to make money)).”
In 2013, Andrew hosted a reception at Buckingham Palace for Dimon and JP Morgan clients.
Shortly afterwards, a report in the Financial Times said that Dimon “and dozens of his corporate clients were sitting back amid the splendour of Buckingham Palace, enjoying a fine dinner and performances by the Royal Philharmonic and the English National Ballet”.
By this time, Epstein was already wary of Andrew’s reputation in the media.
Melania Trump, Prince Andrew, Gwendolyn Beck and Jeffrey Epstein at the Mar-a-Lago club, Palm Beach, Florida, in February 2000
DAVIDOFF STUDIOS/GETTY IMAGES
In an email sent in March 2010, he wrote to Staley, “the English papers want andrews[sic] head, , tomorow[sic] they will say the fbi investigation wants to talk to him,, its all bull,, but it sells.”
In the evidence, published on the US Department of Justice website, there are 11 references to Andrew in Epstein’s emails and texts between June 2009 and February 2011.
These include arrangements for the prince to meet Staley during a business trip to London and the potential to use Andrew.
On September 28, 2010, Epstein wrote to Staley that “prince Andrew would like much more to represent casanov in china”, in reference to JP Morgan Casanove, the investment banking arm.
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On December 2, 2010, Epstein forwarded an email to Staley from Andrew with an inquiry the prince had received from Aria Petroleum looking for a $200 million working capital line.
The documents, prepared for the trial of Ghislaine Maxwell, read: “Since the company is based in the US Prince Andrew appeared to suggest Epstein connect them with a US bank.”
On February 28, 2011, Epstein wrote to Staley to say “andrew asked for your london schedule”. The email is further evidence that contact with Epstein lasted beyond 2010 — a mistruth that, when uncovered, cost Mountbatten-Windsor his titles and his home in Royal Lodge.
In releasing a new “phase” of documents relating to the Epstein investigations, Pam Bondi, the US attorney general, said that it “sheds light on Epstein’s extensive network and begins to provide the public with long overdue accountability”.
However, some documents raise fresh questions as to how Andrew came to know Epstein, who was convicted in 2008 after pleading guilty to charges of soliciting underage girls for prostitution.
In a transcript of an interview with Maxwell, his convicted associate, she said that it was a “flat untruth” that she introduced Epstein to Andrew or Sarah Ferguson and that she believed Epstein met Ferguson in the Bahamas before he was then introduced to Andrew.
When questioned by Todd Blanche, the US deputy attorney general, Maxwell said that Lynn Forester, the businesswoman, “had a house or she rented a house in the Vineyard. I think it was in [Martha’s] Vineyard or Nantucket, I can’t remember now which one it was. It was one of those. It was either in Nantucket or the Vineyard, and invited Epstein to go, and I believe that’s when he met Prince Andrew.
“However, I believe that before that event, he had gone to the Bahamas and had hung out with Sarah Ferguson. And Sarah had called Epstein and had arranged with Lynn, or I don’t know. I don’t know. Now I’m speculating. Anyway, long and short, he met Andrew up there.”
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When Andrew became friends with Epstein, he was mentioned often in the financier’s emails to Staley.
Epstein, who was found dead in his New York prison cell in August 2019, had told Andrew that Staley was “like family” and could be trusted.
In May 2010 Epstein sent an email to Andrew before a meeting between the royal and Staley, which was shown in court as part of a high-profile battle between Staley and the Financial Conduct Authority, the City regulator.
In it, Epstein wrote: “I know you are seeing Jes Staley this morning, he is like family, and can be trusted. 100%.”