Newly released evidence from the Jeffrey Epstein files appear to shed fresh light on Sarah Ferguson’s financial dealings with the late convicted sex offender — including alleged requests that he cover first-class airfare following his release from prison in 2009.
The disclosures emerge as scrutiny around the Duchess of York intensifies in the wake of her ex-husband, the former Prince Andrew’s arrest earlier this month on suspicion of misconduct in public office related to his ties to Epstein. Ferguson, who is not facing criminal charges and who has not been accused of any wrongdoing, appears repeatedly in the newly released evidence.
The emails center on a July 2009 trip to the United States, taken just days after Epstein was released from a Florida jail following his guilty plea to soliciting a minor. Ferguson allegedly traveled with her daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, at a time when she was in dire financial straits.
In the first of a series of emails dated July 23, 2009, Epstein’s longtime house manager, Lesley Groff, wrote to him that Ferguson’s assistant “Amanda” (believed to be Amanda Lewis, then the former duchess’s assistant) had said he had “kindly offered to pay for the Duchess to come and visit you.”
The following morning, Groff updated Epstein again: “Amanda said the princesses would like to accompany the Duchess and she is wondering if you might be willing to pay for them as well…’
Epstein agreed, then asked where Ferguson and her daughters would be staying during. Groff said she would find out, Epstein then added, “I will also find out how old the girls are!”
