The Jeffrey Epstein files have rocked Europe’s elite, revealing ties to a prince, an ambassador, and top politicians<\/b>
\nA prince, an ambassador, senior diplomats, top politicians. All brought down by the Jeffrey Epstein files. And all in Europe, rather than the United States.
The huge trove of Epstein documents released by the U.S. Department of Justice has sent shock waves through Europe\u2019s political, economic and social elites \u2014 dominating headlines, ending careers and spurring political and criminal investigations.
Former U.K. Ambassador to Washington Peter Mandelson was fired and could go to prison. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer faces a leadership crisis over the Mandelson appointment. Senior figures have fallen in Norway, Sweden and Slovakia. And, even before the latest batch of files, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, brother of King Charles III, lost his honors, princely title and taxpayer-funded mansion.
Apart from the former Prince Andrew, none of them faces claims of sexual wrongdoing. They have been toppled for maintaining friendly relationships with Epstein after he became a convicted sex offender.
\u201cEpstein collected powerful people the way others collect frequent flyer points,\u201d said Mark Stephens, a specialist in international and human rights law at Howard Kennedy in London. \u201cBut the receipts are now in public, and some might wish they\u2019d traveled less.\u201d
The documents were published after a public frenzy over Epstein became a crisis for President Donald Trump’s administration and led to a rare bipartisan effort to force the government to open its investigative files. But in the U.S., the long-sought publication has not brought the same public reckoning with Epstein’s associates \u2014 at least so far.
Rob Ford, a professor of political science at the University of Manchester, said that in Britain, „if you\u2019re in those files, it\u2019s immediately a big story.\u201d
\u201cIt suggests to me we have a more functional media, we have a more functional accountability structure, that there is still a degree of shame in politics, in terms of people will say: \u2018This is just not acceptable, this is just not done'“, he said.
U.K. figures felled by their ties to Epstein include the former Prince Andrew \u2014 who paid millions to settle a lawsuit with one of Epstein\u2019s victims and is facing pressure to testify in the U.S. \u2014 and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, whose charity shut down this week.
Like others now ensnared, veteran politician Mandelson long downplayed his relationship with Epstein, despite calling him \u201cmy pest pal\u201d in 2003. The new files reveal contact continued for years after the financier\u2019s 2008 prison term for sexual offenses involving a minor. In a July 2009 message, Mandelson appeared to refer to Epstein\u2019s release from prison as \u201cliberation day.\u201d
Starmer fired Mandelson in September over earlier revelations about his Epstein ties. Now British police are investigating whether Mandelson committed misconduct in public office by passing on sensitive government information to Epstein.
Starmer has apologized to Epstein\u2019s victims and pledged to release public documents that will show Mandelson lied when he was being vetted for the ambassador’s job. That may not be enough to stop furious lawmakers trying to eject the prime minister from office over his failure of judgment.
Experts caution that Britain shouldn\u2019t be too quick to pat itself on the back over its rapid reckoning with Mandelson. The U.S. has a better record than the U.K. when it comes to declassifying and publishing information.
But Alex Thomas, executive director of the Institute for Government think tank, said \u201cthere is something about parliamentary democracy,\u201d with its need for a prime minister to retain the confidence of Parliament to stay in office, \u201cthat I think does help drive accountability.\u201d
A few high-profile Americans have faced repercussions over their friendly ties with Epstein. Most prominent is former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, who went on leave from academic positions at Harvard University late last year.
Brad Karp quit last week as chair of top U.S. law firm Paul Weiss after revelations in the latest batch of documents, and the National Football League said it would investigate Epstein\u2019s relationship with New York Giants co-owner Steve Tisch, who exchanged sometimes crude emails with Epstein about potential dates with adult women.
Other U.S. Epstein associates have not yet faced severe sanction, including former Trump strategist Steve Bannon, who exchanged hundreds of texts with Epstein, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who accepted an invitation to visit Epstein\u2019s private island, and tech billionaire Elon Musk, who discussed visiting the island in emails, but says he never made the trip.
Former President Bill Clinton has been compelled by Republicans to testify before Congress about his friendship with Epstein. Trump, too, has repeatedly faced questions about his ties to Epstein. Neither he nor Clinton has ever been accused of wrongdoing by Epstein\u2019s victims.
The Epstein files reveal the global network of royals, political leaders, billionaires, bankers and academics that the wealthy financier built around him.
Across Europe, officials have had or resign or face censure after the Epstein files revealed relationships that were more extensive than previously disclosed.
Joanna Rubinstein, a Swedish U.N. official, quit after the revelation of a 2012 visit to Epstein\u2019s Caribbean island. Miroslav Lajcak, national security adviser to Slovakia’s prime minister, quit over his communications with Epstein, which included the pair discussing \u201cgorgeous\u201d girls.
Latvia, Lithuania and Poland have set up wide-ranging official investigations into the documents. Poland\u2019s Prime Minister Donald Tusk said a team would scour the files for potential Polish victims, and any links between Epstein and Russian secret services.
Epstein took an interest in European politics, in one email exchange with billionaire Peter Thiel calling Britain\u2019s 2016 vote to leave the European Union \u201cjust the beginning\u201d and part of a return to \u201ctribalism.\u201d
Gr\u00e9goire Roos, director of the Europe program at the think tank Chatham House, said the files uncover Epstein\u2019s \u201cfar-reaching\u201d network of contacts in Europe, \u201cand the level of access among not just those who were already in power, but those who were getting there.
\u201cIt will be interesting to see whether in the correspondence he had an influence in policymaking,\u201d Roos said.
Few countries have been as roiled by the Epstein revelations as Norway, a Scandinavian nation with a population of less than 6 million.
The country’s economic crimes unit has opened a corruption investigation into former Prime Minister Thorbj\u00f8rn Jagland \u2014 who also once headed the committee that hands out the Nobel Peace Prize \u2014 over his ties with Epstein. His lawyer said Jagland would cooperate with the probe.
Also ensnared are high-profile Norwegian diplomat couple Terje R\u00f8d-Larsen and Mona Juul, key players in the 1990s Israel-Palestinian peace efforts. Juul has been suspended as Norway\u2019s ambassador to Jordan after revelations including the fact that Epstein left the couple\u2019s children $10 million in a will drawn up shortly before his death by suicide in a New York prison in 2019.
Norwegians\u2019 respect for their royal family has been dented by new details about Epstein\u2019s friendship with Crown Princess Mette-Marit, who is married to the heir to the throne, Prince Haakon. The files include jokey exchanges and emails planning visits to Epstein properties, teeth-whitening appointments and shopping trips.
The princess apologized Friday \u201cto all of you whom I have disappointed.\u201d
The disclosures came as her son from a previous relationship, Marius Borg H\u00f8iby, stands trial in Oslo on rape charges, which he denies.<\/p>\n