Prince Andrew was in contact with Jeffrey Epstein longer than he claimed
Prince Andrew was in touch with Jeffrey Epstein for two months longer than he has previously claimed, court documents have revealed.
The Duke of York told the financier in February 2011 that they should “keep in close touch”.
He has claimed previously that he cut off contact with Epstein in December 2010 when they were pictured together in Central Park, New York City.
But in the email, he tells Epstein: “Keep in close touch and we’ll play some more soon.”
The emails, first reported by Bloomberg, were disclosed in a filing by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) which is defending an appeal by James Edward “Jes” Staley, the former Barclays Bank boss.
Mr Staley was fined £1.8 million and banned from holding a senior management position in financial services in 2023 for making two misleading statements about his relationship with Epstein and their last contact.
Email exchanges show Epstein invited Andrew out with Mr Staley, then a senior executive at JP Morgan bank, in June 2010.
It emerged in 2023 that in February 2011, Epstein wrote to Mr Staley that “Andrew asked for your London schedule”.
This exchange suggests that the Duke may have had further contact with the financier to enquire about meeting with JP Morgan’s former head of private banking.
In his infamous 2019 BBC Newsnight interview with Emily Maitlis, however, the Duke said that he did not see or speak to Epstein following their meeting in 2010.
He told her that his visit to see the disgraced financier was to inform him they they could no longer be friends, saying: “By mutual agreement during that walk in the park we decided that we would part company and I left, I think it was the next day and to this day I never had any contact with him from that day forward.”
The Duke has been previously criticised for staying with Epstein in his £60 million Manhattan home during the trip.
In the Newsnight interview, the Duke said he had “always questioned” himself as to why he decided to travel to New York to end their friendship.
“I took the judgement call that because this was serious and I felt that doing it over the telephone was the chicken’s way of doing it,” he said.
“I had to go and see him and talk to him.”
The FCA document refers to Prince Andrew as “a member of the British royal family”.
The court filings show that on February 27, 2011, Epstein emailed the Duke to say: “Jes staley will be in London on next tue afternoon, if you have time”.
Prince Andrew responded to clarify the date and added: “Keep in close touch and we’ll play some more soon”.
In 2008, Epstein pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 18 months in prison on prostitution charges, including one involving a minor.
The disgraced financier later killed himself in a Manhattan jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
