Prince Andrew took flight on Epstein private jet with
Russian model
In 1999, prince and Anna Malova were among nine people on
previously undisclosed flight from the US Virgin Islands to Florida
Jon Swaine in New York
@jonswaine
Sun 25 Aug 2019 17.39 BST Last modified on Sun 25 Aug 2019
17.57 BST
Prince Andrew took a previously undisclosed flight on
Jeffrey Epstein’s private jet with a group that included a Russian model.
Andrew and Anna Malova, then 27, were among nine people on
Epstein’s plane for a trip from the US Virgin Islands to Florida in February
1999, according to flight logs.
Malova was later jailed in the US for failing to comply with
a court-ordered programme relating to her use of prescription painkillers.
The discovery of the flight added to pressure on Andrew over
his friendship with Epstein, who this month was found dead at 66 in his New
York jail cell while awaiting trial for sex trafficking. The city medical
examiner ruled the death a suicide.
Andrew has vehemently denied any wrongdoing. He said in a
statement on Saturday that he did not “see, witness or suspect any behaviour of
the sort” that led to Epstein’s 2008 conviction for soliciting sex from an
underage girl.
The prince said it was a mistake to have continued seeing
Epstein after that.
The February 1999 flight, first reported by the Sunday
Times, was recorded in logs kept by Epstein’s pilots that were filed to a US court
by Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who has alleged she was used as a sex slave by
Epstein.
The flight log was among almost 2,000 pages of records
released by a federal judge in New York this month. It was missing from the
notorious 73 pages of previously released Epstein flight logs, some of which
also named Andrew as a passenger.
The group flew from St Thomas, the airport closest to
Epstein’s private island, Little St James, to Palm Beach in Florida, where
Epstein had a mansion. The disgraced money manager is accused of abusing
underage girls at both properties and other sites.
There is no suggestion Malova or Andrew were involved in any
wrongdoing during the trip.
They and Epstein were joined on the flight by others
including Epstein’s close friend Ghislaine Maxwell, a daughter of the late
financier Robert Maxwell who has been accused by several victims of assisting
Epstein’s abuse of girls. Maxwell denies this.
Also present was Gwendolyn Beck, a former financial industry
executive and friend of Epstein, who made a failed run for Congress in Virginia
in 2014. Epstein donated more than $12,000 to Beck’s campaign.
Malova did not
respond to an email. A former Miss Russia, she moved to the US and made
it to the final of the 1998 Miss Universe beauty pageant, which was then owned
by Donald Trump – another former friend of Epstein.
In 2010 she was accused of forging a prescription for
Vicodin from a stolen doctor’s pad. She was jailed in May 2011 after repeatedly
arriving late for a court-mandated drug programme. She denied all the charges
against her.
Last week it was alleged that Andrew was once seen receiving
a foot massage from “two young well-dressed Russian women” at Epstein’s home in
Manhattan. The claim was made in an email by the literary agent John Brockman,
another former Epstein associate.
Last week also saw the release of video of Andrew at
Epstein's New York City home in 2010.
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