The former Prince Andrew is accused of betraying the UK by sharing confidential information with Jeffrey Epstein and his pals — and files that were recently released by the US Justice Department culminated in his arrest Thursday.
In one of the emails from October 2010, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor forwarded official reports to Epstein, sharing the details of his visits to mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Vietnam with the disgraced financier.
On Christmas Eve 2010, he also messaged Epstein and sent him a confidential briefing about investment opportunities in Afghanistan, where the UK government was funding reconstruction in Helmand Province, the emails released by the DOJ show.
“Attached is a confidential brief produced by the Provincial Reconstruction Team in Helmand Province for International Investment Opportunities,” the email reportedly from Andrew to Epstein reads.
“I am going to offer this elsewhere in my network (including Abu Dhabi) but would be very interested in your comments, views or ideas as to whom I could also usefully show this to attract some interest,” the email continues.
“I have sadly found out that Gates Foundation doesn’t do anything in Afghanistan,” he concluded, referencing the nonprofit set up by Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who has also come under renewed fire over his ties to Epstein.
At the time, Andrew was a trade envoy who had a duty to keep trade secrets confidential, according to government rules.
Andrew and Epstein also planned to launch a business together in China during his time as trade envoy — after Epstein had been convicted of child sex crimes, other emails appear to show.
Business discussions between the pair, conducted through a liaison called David Stern, appeared to continue for more than five years after Epstein’s release from prison.
Andrew previously claimed in an infamous BBC interview that he had cut off ties with Epstein in December 2010.
In July 2010, Stern sent an email to Epstein discussing setting up a private wealth management company with offices in London and Beijing.
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“We very discreetly make PA [Prince Andrew] part of it and use his ‘aura and access,’” the email states.
Andrew also allegedly used his trade envoy position to send confidential information to his close friend Jonathan Rowland, former chief executive of Luxembourg’s Banque Havilland.
Emails appear to show in February 2010, Andrew asked his then-deputy private secretary Amanda Thirsk to obtain an internal British government memo about Iceland’s financial crisis.
Andrew’s arrest is separate from the allegations about his involvement in Epstein’s sex-trafficking operation.
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Several British police forces have said they are assessing whether to investigate allegations Epstein trafficked women into regional airports across the UK on his private jet.
Here is the latest on Jeffrey Epstein documents released by DOJ:
Andrew is alleged to have been on at least one of those flights with the financier.
“As part of the investigation, we have today [Thursday] arrested a man in his 60s from Norfolk on suspicion of misconduct in public office and are carrying out searches at addresses in Berkshire and Norfolk,” Thames Valley Police said in a statement.
The force’s jurisdiction covers Windsor, where Andrew was living at the Royal Lodge before he was forced to move out earlier this month onto a private dwelling on the King’s Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, eastern England.
Andrew has strenuously denied all the allegations against him.
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