New documents published on Friday in the case of the late American financier Jeffrey Epstein, convicted of sex crimes, have also cast a shadow on Norwegian Crown Princess Mette-Marit, DPA reports.
According to media reports on Saturday, the 52-year-old princess is mentioned several times in the documents published by the US Department of Justice on Friday. The fact that the princess knew Epstein became known years ago, DPA recalls.
Email correspondence concerning a visit to Epstein's estate in Palm Beach, Florida, in 2013 has attracted particular attention. The palace confirmed to NRK television that the princess rented a house from Epstein through a mutual friend, DPA reports.
The Norwegian crown princess stayed there for four days with a friend, royal family spokeswoman Guri Varpe said. According to the spokeswoman, the princess met Epstein during the visit, but never stayed on the multimillionaire's private island, Little St. James.
For years, Jeffrey Epstein ran a sex abuse ring whose victims were young women and minors. He committed suicide in a Manhattan prison in 2019 at the age of 66, DPA recalls.
On Friday evening, Princess Mette-Marit apologized. She said she had not thoroughly checked Epstein's background, several Norwegian media outlets reported. Mette-Marit admitted that she had shown "bad judgment" and regretted "having had any contact with Epstein at all."
The princess expressed deep sympathy and solidarity with the financier's victims.
According to the Norwegian newspaper “Dagens Næringsliv“ Mette-Marit met Epstein several times in the United States and in Oslo in 2011 and 2013.
The release of the new documents in the Epstein case comes at a very inconvenient time for the Norwegian crown princess, as her eldest son, Marius Borg Høyby, is due to stand trial on Tuesday on charges of rape, assault, domestic violence, causing bodily harm and damage to property, as well as breaching restraining orders.
The 29-year-old is expected to enter a plea to the charges on the second day of the trial.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said former Prince Andrew should testify before a US congressional committee following new revelations about his ties to the late US financier Jeffrey Epstein, who was convicted of sex crimes, Reuters reported.
The new Epstein-related files, released on Friday by the U.S. Department of Justice, include emails that show that the brother of Britain's King Charles had regular contact with Epstein for more than two years after the American multimillionaire was found guilty of soliciting a minor for prostitution.
The released documents also include photographs that show Andrew kneeling on the floor touching the waist of an unidentified woman.
In November, King Charles stripped his brother of his titles and kicked him out of the Windsor Castle estate amid earlier revelations about Andrew's ties to Epstein, Reuters recalls.
The former prince, who is 65, now uses the name Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. He denies any wrongdoing in connection with Jeffrey Epstein and has previously denied any contact with him since his 2008 conviction, apart from a visit to New York in 2010 to end his relationship with the now-deceased financier.
Andrew did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment in light of the new revelations. Buckingham Palace declined to comment, the agency said.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke on the subject on a flight from China to Japan while on a tour of Asia. Starmer said the former prince should appear before US lawmakers and tell them everything he knows to help Epstein's victims.
In November, members of a congressional committee investigating Epstein renewed calls for a hearing for the former prince.
Jeffrey Epstein committed suicide in a Manhattan jail in 2019 while on trial for sex crimes. He was sent to prison in 2008 for soliciting a minor for prostitution.
The documents show that Andrew has been in regular contact with Epstein since his conviction, and that they have discussed potential business deals and social gatherings.
In several emails, Epstein and Andrew discuss women the financier suggested the former prince should meet. In one of the emails, Epstein offers to bring three women to Buckingham Palace.
The Associated Press commented that the new revelations create a new cause for embarrassment for the British royal family.
After King Charles stripped Andrew of his titles, the damage from the new revelations will likely be limited to Mountbatten-Windsor, predicted Craig Prescott, an expert in constitutional and monarchical law at the University of London, reported the AP.
At the end of 2019, the former prince claimed that he was ready to help any law enforcement agency in the investigation against Epstein. However, previously declassified documents showed that for 10 months, the former prince's lawyers rejected all proposals for their client to be directly questioned by federal prosecutors, the AP said.
The lawyers insisted that he respond in writing, but there is no evidence that this happened.
The former prince was already under the radar in 2008, when the now-deceased financier pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor for prostitution. In 2011, the late Virginia Giuffre said that Epstein had propositioned Andrew and forced her to have sex with him when she was 17.
The former prince tried to quell the scandal with a 2019 interview with the BBC, but his appearance only added fuel to the fire, as he was criticized for giving incredible explanations for his behavior and showing no sympathy for Epstein's victims, the AP recalls.
The former prince has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, as well as the allegations by Virginia Giuffre, who committed suicide in April of last year.
The emails released on Friday include correspondence from August 2010 between Epstein and an account named “Herzog“, which took place shortly after The financier was released from house arrest after his earlier conviction. Before he was banned from using the title, Mountbatten-Windsor was the Duke of York, the AP recalls.
“I have a friend I think you would enjoy having dinner with“, Epstein wrote.
“The Duke“ replies: “Of course. I am in Geneva until 10am, but I would be happy to meet her. Will she bring a message from you? Please give her my contact details so she can contact me“. The email is signed “A“.
In another email to “The Duke“ Epstein wrote: “She is 26 years old, Russian, smart, beautiful, trustworthy and yes, she has your email“.
The new documents include emails between the chairwoman of the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Organizing Committee, Casey Wasserman, and Epstein's former partner and confidante, Gillian Maxwell, the Associated Press reported.
The published documents include correspondence between Wasserman and Maxwell from 2003. Wasserman wrote to Gillian Maxwell: “I think about you all the time. What do I have to do to see you in tight leather clothes?“. The two also exchanged emails about massages, and in one email, Maxwell asked if it would be foggy enough for their upcoming meeting “to swim naked on the beach.”
In a statement released Saturday, Wasserman expressed deep regret for his correspondence with Gillian Maxwell, which occurred “long before her horrific crimes came to light.”
In 2021, Maxwell was convicted of five counts of human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation and abuse of minors. She is serving a 20-year sentence.
“I have never had a personal or business relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. As is well documented, in 2002, I participated in a humanitarian mission as part of a Clinton Foundation delegation aboard Epstein’s plane. "I deeply regret any association with either of them," Casey Wasserman said, according to the AP.
The documents from the Jeffrey Epstein investigation were released under a law that requires the government to open its files on the late financier and his confidante and former girlfriend Maxwell. Epstein committed suicide in a New York jail in August 2019, a month after being charged with human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation. In 2008, he pleaded guilty to a charge of soliciting a minor for prostitution.
Casey Wasserman is the founder of a sports and other talent agency and represents top players in football, basketball and baseball, as well as famous actors such as Adam Sandler and Brad Pitt. He has recently been in the spotlight as chairman of the organizing committee for the Los Angeles Olympics. His lobbying played an important role in winning the 2028 Summer Olympics in the United States.
In 2021, Wasserman divorced his wife, Laura Zifrin Wasserman, after 20 years of marriage, the AP recalls.
An advisor to the Slovak government and former foreign minister of Slovakia, he resigned in connection with the publication of files related to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, TASR and DPA reported.
Miroslav Lajčák has submitted his resignation to Prime Minister Robert Fico, who has accepted it, while expressing regret that the country is losing an experienced foreign policy adviser.
A Slovak news website earlier published chat logs that are believed to be from the latest files in the Epstein investigation, made public yesterday by the US Department of Justice. The chat logs show that the pedophile and financier offered young women to Lajčák. Lajčák has denied the allegations, saying he never spoke to Epstein about women.
Lajčák was Slovakia's foreign minister from 2009-2010 and again from 2012-2020. He was president of the UN General Assembly from September 2017 to September 2018.