The Epstein case has turned into a Pandora's box of sorts. The declassification of 1,000 pages of documents on December 3 has shaken the foundations of politics, economics, entertainment, and even royalty. Of the 150 names written down in the black book, Prince Andrew (63), Richard Branson (73), Bill Clinton (77) and Donald Trump (77) are already heavily marked.
During the investigative phase of the scandal, the court received a series of emails from Sarah Ransome, one of the 11 victims permitted to testify in the trial against Ghislaine Maxwell (62), the recruiter of girls for the American millionaire. In these emails, she asserted that Epstein had recorded tapes with highly explicit content in which the prince, the former president of the United States and the British tycoon appear.
In the publication of 17 documents with some 300-plus pages this January 8, the contents of some of these emails have been revealed. As Ransome wrote at the time, "my friend had sexual relations with Clinton, Prince Andrew, and Richard Branson, and tapes were filmed on each occasion by Jeffrey." Additionally, it is noteworthy that Prince Andrew's name appears in the transcripts over 70 times. As if this were not enough, Ransom also revealed that "when my friend finally had the courage to speak out and went to the police in 2008, nothing was done and she was completely humiliated by the police department where she went to report what had happened to her."
Prince Andrew finds himself once again on a knife's edge. Two years ago, Queen Elizabeth II tried to mitigate the impact of her son's alleged wrongdoing by helping him pay 14 million euros to reach an out-of-court settlement with Virginia Giuffre, the victim who took the Duke of York to court. Furthermore, if these latest allegations hold true, the interview in which Emily Maitlis cornered the prince in front of millions of BBC viewers would come to nothing.
Regarding billionaire Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group, the company has issued a statement noting that "in a New Yorker report published in 2019, Ransome admitted that she had 'made it up' the tapes. We can confirm that Sarah Ransome's claims are unfounded."
As for the other tapes purportedly featuring the two former US presidents, Ransome emphasized that Epstein's face is conspicuous by its absence as he had everything under control from the beginning to commit blackmail.