Last night Prince Andrew was further humiliated after it was revealed that sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell was ordered to search her phone, computer and thousands of emails for his name as well as the words “sex toy” and “erotica”.
Explosive court documents reveal how Maxwell's lawyers were ordered by a US court to search all her electronic devices for mentions of the prince, other acquaintances of pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and a range of dirty words.
These included “Prince”, “Andrew”, “Duke”, “York”, “Royal”, “Underage”, “Massage”, “Slave”, “Sex”, “Nipple” and “Dildo”, according to the damning legal Statement papers.
Details of the deeply embarrassing search – part of a libel case brought against Maxwell in 2015 by Andrew's accuser Virginia Giuffre, née Roberts – are revealed in a collection of 130 documents totaling more than 1,300 pages released this weekend.
It is not known what the search uncovered. Maxwell's lawyers claimed it was a “wild goose chase.” The case was resolved before it went to trial.
Last night a source close to the Duke of York told the MoS how Andrew was rocked by the lurid new claims.
“He doesn’t have the emotional bandwidth to handle it,” the source said. “He's locked himself in a room and doesn't know how to react. “He's devastated.”
Prince Andrew pictured with Ghislaine Maxwell at Ascot in 2000. Maxwell is now behind bars after being convicted of child sex trafficking
Prince Andrew photographed walking with pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein in New York's Central Park in 2011. Epstein died in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges
The Royal Lodge in Windsor Great Park, where Andrew currently lives. According to sources, the king is preparing to cut funding for private security at the house
On another day of amazing revelations:
- Scotland Yard was urged by a former superintendent to question the security officers who accompanied Prince Andrew on trips to Epstein's meetings
- Epstein's “house manager,” Alfredo Rodriguez, was questioned under oath about whether Prince Andrew and Maxwell had “a romantic relationship,” court documents show;
- Mr. Rodriguez claimed that “many” pictures of Epstein and Andrew posing together were on display at Epstein's Florida mansion, where the financier abused hundreds of young girls;
- King Charles is reportedly preparing to cut funds for the security of his brother's 30-room Windsor estate, the Royal Lodge;
- New emails reveal the panic that gripped Maxwell and her advisers after Andrew was first accused in court documents of abusing Giuffre;
- Maxwell swam naked on Epstein's Caribbean island, where his recruits had to massage her while she was undressed, documents say.
The excitement surrounding Andrew, who is still eighth in line to the throne, shows no sign of abating after hundreds of documents were released in three days.
The court records were sealed in 2017 but released at the request of media outlets.
These included claims that the prince knew about Epstein's sex trafficking, committed “acts of sexual abuse,” received daily massages and participated in an “orgy with minors.” Andrew has vehemently and repeatedly denied all allegations made against him.
Scotland Yard said last week that it was not ruling out investigating sexual assault allegations against Prince Andrew, while the release of the court documents is believed to have strengthened the king's resolve that his brother should never be allowed to assume royal duties again.
A series of documents released in the early hours of yesterday revealed a bitter legal battle between Giuffre and Maxwell's lawyers over a 2016 court order requiring a search of Maxwell's “electronic media.”
In a letter to Maxwell's legal team, Meredith Schultz, one of Ms. Giuffre's lawyers, called for a search of Maxwell's email and iCloud accounts, as well as her computers, phones and tablets.
Ms Schultz then listed 368 words to search for, including Prince Andrew, his initials “PA” and “Clinton” – a reference to former US President Bill Clinton. There is no evidence of wrongdoing by Mr. Clinton.
The list also includes words that are either sexually explicit or indicative of abuse, including “erotic,” “masturbate,” “bondage,” “teen,” “schoolgirl” and “pedophile.”
Maxwell's attorney, Laura Menninger, later took issue with the “large number” of search terms and complained that “a search for all 368 terms on Ms. Maxwell's devices will take more than a week.”
She highlighted the difficulty of searching for common words such as “bed,” “lingerie,” and “bath,” as well as the names of lawyers.
Ms Giuffre claimed she was forced to have sex with the prince three times when she was 17, including during a bath in Maxwell's London townhouse in 2001. The claims were repeatedly and forcefully denied by Andrew.
Ms. Menninger complains in a letter that Giuffre sent Maxwell “on a costly, time-consuming and stressful wild goose hunt that did not produce a single goose feather. 'It is time to call off the hunt.'
However, the legal documents show that to comply with the court order, 110 words were searched – including Andrew's name and the sexually explicit words.
Documents included in the latest installment of the Epstein files show that “Andrew,” “prince” and “king” were among the terms searched for in Maxwell's emails (left). Cheesy terms relating to sexual acts and pedophilia were also looked up (right)
Prince Andrew pictured with Victoria Giuffre (then Roberts) in London in 2001, alongside Ghislaine Maxwell
The search resulted in the discovery of approximately 9,000 documents and messages. However, it is unknown whether Andrew appeared in any of them.
The latest documents show Maxwell's constant efforts to find new women and girls to satisfy Epstein, including threesomes with other women.
They also reveal how Tony Figueroa, Giuffre's ex-boyfriend, claimed that Maxwell would call him to ask if he had found any girls to take to Epstein, and how Giuffre, Maxwell and Epstein “were intimate with each other on multiple occasions.” .
Figueroa was paid between $200 and $300 for each new girl he took to meet Epstein at his $18 million mansion in Palm Beach, Florida.
In a separate statement, Rodriguez told investigators that Epstein's mansion, dubbed the “house of horrors,” had “many pictures” of Andrew proudly displayed.
Meanwhile, Johanna Sjoberg – who was recruited by Maxwell as a 20-year-old student – said in another document that she was paid £200 for each massage the couple gave, increased by £100 if she did anything sexual for Epstein.
In her 2016 testimony, Sjoberg recalled giving Maxwell between five and 10 massages – during which the disgraced socialite was naked under a towel.
Asked if Maxwell had ever been naked or topless at the swimming pool, Ms Sjoberg added: “I don't remember.” “She was naked when she went swimming in the sea.”
Maxwell was convicted in December 2021 of sex trafficking and procuring teenage girls for Epstein. The financier killed himself in prison several weeks after his July 2019 arrest on sex trafficking charges.
Prince Andrew did not respond to a request for comment.
Additional reporting by Daisy Graham-Brown and Sam Merriman.