Prince Andrew Among Global Figures Under Scrutiny After Epstein’s Death

* Queen Elizabeth II’s second-born son, 59, was named in
court documents released Friday.

By Yuliya Talmazan

LONDON — Britain’s Prince Andrew, one of Queen Elizabeth II’s
four children, is among the prominent figures to be engulfed in the
uproar following Jeffrey Epstein’s death in a Manhattan jail.

On Sunday, Epstein’s death by apparent suicide as he was being
held on sex trafficking charges was featured in news bulletins and
newspaper front pages outside of the United States — in part thanks
to a number of high-profile international personalities with ties
to the disgraced financier who were mentioned in the newly released
deposition of one of his alleged victims.

Andrew, 59, the queen’s second-born son, was named in court
documents released Friday.

The court documents relate to a 2015 defamation lawsuit that one
of Epstein’s alleged victims, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, filed
against British socialite and former longtime member of Epstein’s
inner circle, Ghislaine Maxwell.

In her 2016 deposition included in the documents released
Friday, Johanna Sjoberg — a woman who alleged she was forced by
Maxwell to have sex with Epstein — said that Andrew touched her
breast while they sat on a couch in Epstein’s Manhattan apartment
in 2001.

When NBC News asked Buckingham Palace to comment on the
allegations that emerged Friday, a royal spokesperson said: “This
relates to proceedings in the United States, to which The Duke of
York is not a party. Any suggestion of impropriety with underage
minors is categorically untrue.”

The unsealed court documents revealed that Giuffre, now 36, said
in her own 2016 deposition that Epstein and Maxwell directed her to
provide sexual services for a number powerful American and foreign
men — including a “foreign president,” “a well-known prime
minister” and a “large hotel chain owner.”

Buckingham Palace has previously emphatically denied all
allegations stemming from the 2015 court case, including Giuffre
saying that she was directed to have sex with Andrew on Maxwell’s
orders.

The prince’s name topped the headlines in British tabloids
Sunday morning despite the palace’s vehement denials.

“Prince Andrew faces new Epstein anguish,” the Daily Mail’s
headline stated.

The Sun, one of the most-read tabloids in the United Kingdom,
went with: “Prince Andrew’s paedo pal Jeffrey Epstein found hanged
in jail…”

A
photo released with court documents related to Virginia Giuffre’s
defamation lawsuit against Ghisaline Maxwell shows Giuffre with
Prince Andrew and Maxwell, right, inside Prince Andrew’s London
home.

A photograph showing Epstein and Prince Andrew apparently
walking in New York’s Central Park in 2010 also appeared on some of
the front pages. NBC News was not able to independently confirm the
location and date of the photograph.

With Epstein dead, Maxwell, who is also British, was subjected
to intensifying scrutiny Sunday.

The daughter of the late publishing mogul Robert Maxwell, she
was a close friend and confidante of Epstein’s after they were
first romantically linked in the early 1990s, according to
reports.

Along with Epstein, Giuffre claimed Maxwell groomed her to
become a “sex slave.”

Giuffre alleged that Maxwell directed her to travel and provide
sexual services for high-profile men.

“There’s a whole bunch of them — it’s just hard for me to
remember,” Giuffre said, according to the court filing. “My whole
life revolved around just pleasing these men and keeping Ghislaine
and Jeffrey happy. Their whole lives revolved around sex.”

Previously, in a motion to dismiss the 2015 suit, Maxwell’s
lawyers said Giuffre “produced no evidence substantiating any of
her fantastical claims that she had been trafficked by Epstein, or
by Maxwell, to any of these men or any others.”

The suit was settled out of court in 2017.

Maxwell, who has not been charged with a crime, could not be
reached for comment. Her lawyer also didn’t return a request for
comment upon release of the documents Friday.

A well-known French modeling agent was also mentioned in the
released court papers.

Jean Luc Brunel, the owner and founder of modeling agency MC2,
was named as one of the men that Giuffre was directed to have sex
with by Maxwell.

The court documents released Friday didn’t contain any more
details about the alleged sexual encounter or encounters.

Brunel sued Esptein after Giuffre’s allegations first surfaced
during the 2015 case, claiming that Epstein’s high-profile legal
troubles have unfairly embroiled him and damaged his agency’s
reputation.

He had previously denied claims made by Giuffre that she was
forced to have sex with him, according to the Guardian.

NBC News requested a comment from Brunel though his MC2 agency,
but did not receive a response.

None of the men identified by Guiffre have been charged with a
crime or named in any civil suits linked to Epstein.

Also caught in the furor is Ehud Barak, a former Israeli prime
minister. While he was not mentioned in the newly released court
documents, his ties with Epstein are also being scrutinized.

The Times of Israel reported Saturday that Barak had business
dealings with Epstein and was a frequent visitor to his homes. NBC
News was not able to confirm these reports.

“Barak, who entered a business deal with Epstein in 2015, years
after the American financier served time for solicitation, has
called long-rumored allegations of sex trafficking by Epstein
‘abhorrent’ and announced that he had officially cut off all
business ties with him,” the paper said.

When Barak announced his intentions to run in the upcoming
national election earlier this summer, his possible links to
Epstein became a hot-button issue in Israel.

Last month, Barak defended his business ties to Epstein,
explaining that at the time of his work with him he believed the
businessman had paid his debt to society, The Times of Israel
reported.

The former prime minister told Israel’s Channel 13 on Saturday
that he “would have preferred never to have made contact with
[Epstein].”

NBC News reached out to Barak for a statement, but his
spokesperson said he had no further comment in addition to what he
told Channel 13.

Epstein’s death has left questions about the scope of his
alleged sex trafficking network, and investigators will likely also
be zeroing on his international links.

He was arrested as he returned on a private jet from from Paris,
where it’s been widely reported he owns property.

Epstein also owned a private Caribbean island.

NBC News has reported last month that federal prosecutors said
Epstein used a foreign passport with a fake name to enter several
countries in the 1980s, including the United Kingdom, Spain and
Saudi Arabia.

It listed his place of residence as Saudi Arabia, according to
prosecutors, who also said that Epstein’s lawyers have not
explained how he obtained the passport and whether he was a citizen
of another country.

Yuliya Talmazan reported from London, Lawahez Jabari from
Jerusalem and Chelsea Damberg from New York.

Culled from nbcnews.com