Prince Andrew Was In Touch With Jeffrey Epstein Until 2015 Despite Denials, Evidence Suggests
The Duke allegedly passed on details about Chinese security deals in 2015, contradicting his claim that the friendship ended in 2010.
Trigger warning: This article contains themes of sexual abuse that some readers may find distressing
For more than a decade, Prince Andrew has faced scrutiny over his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein. He had to give up his royal title and duties for the same, and after that, for years, the disgraced Duke of York has insisted that he cut ties with Jeffrey Epstein in late 2010. But new evidence suggests he may have remained in contact with Epstein for at least another five years, far longer than he has admitted publicly.
According to [leaked emails], Andrew allegedly provided Epstein with information about a potential business opportunity in China in December 2015, despite having told the BBC in 2019 that he had not spoken to or met Epstein since their infamous Central Park meeting in 2010. The emails surfaced after hackers accessed the account of former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, whose correspondence with Epstein was later published online by Distributed Denial of Secrets (DDoS), a WikiLeaks-style transparency group. Screenshots of the exchanges appear to show Epstein relaying details about wealthy Chinese families seeking private security services — information he said had come directly from Andrew, the Times reported.
The revelation challenges Andrew’s repeated insistence that he severed ties with the disgraced financier after his 2010 trip to New York, where he was photographed strolling with Epstein in Central Park. In his notorious 2019 BBC Newsnight interview, Andrew claimed he had flown across the Atlantic solely to end the friendship. “And to this day, I never had any contact with him from that day forward,” he said. Yet earlier reports had already suggested otherwise. Court documents revealed that in February 2011, Andrew allegedly sent Epstein an email that read, “Keep in close touch and we’ll play some more soon!”
The new timeline implies that Andrew’s links with Epstein stretched into 2015, a period when lawsuits from new accusers were mounting against Epstein, and more than a year after Andrew himself had been accused of having sex with trafficking victim Virginia Giuffre. The disclosure also connects awkwardly with Andrew’s dealings in China, as per the NY Post. Just a year earlier, the Duke had visited Beijing, and in 2015, he helped host President Xi Jinping during a state visit to Britain. Around the same period, Andrew was also pushing his entrepreneurial initiative, Pitch@Palace, into the Chinese market with the support of businessman Yang Tengbo, who has since faced allegations of being a Chinese spy, claims he has denied.
For Andrew, the renewed scrutiny comes on top of a deeply damaged public image. Stripped of his royal titles and military honors, he has retreated largely from public life since reaching an out-of-court settlement with Giuffre in 2022. The payment, reported to be in the region of £12 million ($16 million), was made without an admission of liability. Andrew has consistently denied all allegations of sexual abuse or involvement in trafficking.
The fallout also continues to ripple across Epstein’s wider network. Barak has maintained he knew nothing of Epstein’s crimes despite their documented business links. Meanwhile, Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former confidante, now serving 20 years in prison, recently resurfaced with claims that it was Sarah Ferguson, not her, who encouraged Andrew’s friendship with Epstein.
