Andrew Could Be in Major Trouble For Asking Epstein to Help Secure $200 Million US Defense Deal
Though Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor once enjoyed a respectable public standing, his image quickly unraveled when his ties to Jeffrey Epstein resurfaced. The latest release of Epstein files shed fresh light on their friendship, detailing efforts to leverage his role as a UK trade envoy to pass along confidential government information to the disgraced financier. Among the disclosures is an email in which the former Prince asked Epstein to help him secure $200M to finance a proposed fuel supply deal with the US Department of Defense.
As reported by Newsweek, in September 2010, a managing partner for Concord Investment Partners Holdings reportedly emailed Mountbatten-Windsor, requesting an introduction to a senior banker at either Barclays or RBS. The purpose was to obtain $200M for a company called Aria Petroleum, which he said was to fund "significantly increased business from [the US Department of Defense]." About three months later, on December 2, 2010, the former Prince forwarded that correspondence to Epstein, during the same month he had traveled to New York, where he was photographed by paparazzi walking through Central Park.
Mountbatten-Windsor's email forwarding the financing request to Epstein read, "I should have done something about this, but not sure if the office did. I am checking, but as this is a US institution, do you know of anyone who might like to take a look?" signing off as, "HRH The Duke of York KG." Epstein then forwarded the message to Jes Staley, head of JP Morgan's private bank at the time, simply writing, "FYI." There are no further references to Aria Petroleum in the tranche published so far. At the time, Mountbatten-Windsor was a UK trade envoy, and sharing such confidential information constituted a breach of the law.
Weighing in on the latest revelations, Norman Baker, a former Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament, believed that Mountbatten-Windsor's shady dealings must be taken seriously by the police. He opined, "I think there's a need for a general review into all of Andrew's activities as trade envoy, both in terms of propriety and legality, but also more morally: what he was doing and what the impact was on Britain, because he wasn't, in my view, representing Britain but representing himself." He added, "He's [Andrew] potentially endangering UK-US relations, potentially aiding and abetting a dodgy Russian, and potentially damaging Britain's credibility on the international landscape."
According to the BBC, after a formal complaint by the anti-monarchy group Republic to investigate Mountbatten-Windsor's breach of law, the Thames Valley Police are currently 'assessing the information.' Meanwhile, other emails from late 2010 show that the former Duke of York had forwarded internal reports regarding official trade missions to Singapore, Vietnam, Hong Kong, and China. Another concerning message revealed that he had allegedly presented Epstein with a 'confidential brief' regarding investment opportunities in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan, a region under intense military and reconstruction oversight by British forces.