Horrifying details of ex-Prince Andrew’s dealings with an infamous pedophile continue to pile up.
Jeffrey Epstein’s accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell confirmed the authenticity of the infamous photo of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor with his arm around his accuser, Virginia Giuffre, in a newly unsealed email.
The former prince, 65, has long disputed the authenticity of the 2001 photo, suggesting it was faked and claiming he had never met Giuffre, who was 17 when the photo was taken.
But in a bombshell email released by the Justice Department in the latest tranche of Epstein files released Jan. 30, Maxwell acknowledged that she had introduced Giuffre to Andrew and that the photo was taken at her London home.
The disgraced socialite made the admission in a statement she drafted in 2015, days after Giuffre accused her in a lawsuit of recruiting her as a “sex slave” for Epstein. Maxwell sent her draft to Epstein for approval.
“In 2001 I was in London when [redacted] met a number of friends of mine including Prince Andrew. A photograph was taken as I imagine she wanted to show it to friends and family,” she wrote in her draft statement, adding, “I never asked (redacted) to give him a massage.”
In the body of the email, Maxwell also wrote, “Prince Andrew came to my house to visit me - (redacted) was in the house and they did meet.” Andrew famously insisted he was at a Pizza Express, not Maxwell’s home, the night the photo was taken.
Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence in a Texas prison after being convicted of sex trafficking related to Epstein, has publicly insisted that the photo is “fake,” declaring she didn’t “believe it’s real for a second.”
Giuffre died by suicide at age 41 in April last year. She had alleged Andrew had sex with her three times when she was a teenager and was being trafficked by Epstein and Maxwell. Andrew has always denied the allegations and reached an out-of-court settlement with Giuffre in 2022.
While Giuffre’s name is redacted from the document, details point to her, including an unredacted reference to “Virginia’s mother” and Maxwell’s account of meeting Giuffre at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club—an account that aligns with statements from both Giuffre and Trump.
“I met (redacted) when she was working at the Mar-A-Largo Country Club,” Maxwell wrote in her draft statement, adding that she asked Giuffre whether she would be interested in working as a “part-time masseuse” for Epstein.
She said Giuffre “began to travel with Mr Epstein as his masseuse” in 1999, but claimed she was oblivious to Epstein’s conduct.
“All I can say is that I was not aware of any improper conduct with minors,” she wrote, before concluding her draft statement with a dig at her Giuffre:
“Finally (redacted) claims she was a sex slave for the rich and famous, however the reality is that working as a waitress in a burger bar.”
Giuffre alleged that Epstein and Maxwell sexually abused her from 1999 to 2002, and during this time trafficked her to other prominent men besides Andrew.
The Daily Beast reported in 2022 that Giuffre appears to have lost the original photo of her with Andrew, a fact the former prince’s legal team has used to cast doubt about its authenticity.
But last year, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee published a July 2011 email from Epstein that also appeared to confirm the photo of Andrew and Giuffre is genuine.
“Yes she was on my plane and yes she had her picture taken with Andrew,” Epstein wrote. The pedophile, who died by suicide in jail in 2019, is alleged to have taken the photo.
After Maxwell’s email was unearthed on Wednesday, Giuffre’s family said in a statement, “Today, our sister Virginia Roberts Giuffre is vindicated again.”
“We reiterate that Virginia was a truth teller. Despite the death threats and smear campaigns against her, Virginia never wavered,” they said, according to the Daily Mail.
“She remembered what she had experienced and by whom, documented it, and reported it to the authorities. Four of the abusers she named are now in prison, dead, or have become pariahs. We are hopeful that Andrew will face criminal charges.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to Maxwell’s legal team for comment.
