Andrew went to intimate dinner with Epstein after his prison release, files suggest

. UK edition

Andrew Mounbatten-Windsor driving a car
The gathering appears to have taken place at Epstein’s New York home, where Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was staying. Photograph: Shutterstock

Famous figures including Woody Allen were invited to party with disgraced financier and Mountbatten-Windsor, documents indicate

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor attended an intimate party with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein months after he was released from prison, files suggest.

The US justice department released another cache of documents relating to the disgraced financier on Friday.

They include emails from the Hollywood publicist Peggy Siegal to several high-profile figures in relation to a “last-minute casual dinner” for Mountbatten-Windsor, who was in New York on an “unofficial private visit” in December 2010.

The gathering appears to have taken place at Epstein’s New York home, where Mountbatten-Windsor was staying.

Mountbatten-Windsor previously said the purpose of his trip was to sever ties with Epstein, who was jailed for child sexual abuse offences in July 2009. During the visit, Mountbatten-Windsor and Epstein were pictured walking together in Central Park.

The former prince said in his disastrous Newsnight interview in 2019 that he chose to meet Epstein in person to end the friendship as he felt breaking the news “over the telephone was the chicken’s way of doing it”.

However, newly released emails indicate that Siegal drew up a guest list for what she described as a “very interesting, fast, fun dinner” involving Mountbatten-Windsor and Epstein.

She invited the film director Woody Allen and his wife, Soon-Yi Previn; the political strategist George Stephanopoulos and his wife, the actor Alexandra Wentworth; the journalist Katie Couric and the talkshow host Charlie Rose. It is not clear who ultimately attended, but the emails suggest Wentworth withdrew because her children were sick.

In the emails, Siegal told Stephanopoulos: “Come on time and you will have private time with Andrew as he is staying at the house.”

Separate emails between Epstein and an account named “The Duke” on 11 and 12 August 2010 suggest the financier wanted to introduce “A” to a 26-year-old Russian woman, whom he suggested he “might enjoy having dinner with”.

Epstein wrote that the woman would be in London in August 2010. “The Duke” replied that he would be in Geneva “until the morning of the 22nd but would be delighted to see her” and then asked: “Will she be bringing a message from you? Please give her my contact details to get in touch.”

The email is signed “A”, with what appears to be an email signature that reads “HRH Duke of York KG”.

The person asked Epstein whether there was “any other information you might know about her that might be useful to know?”, to which he replied: “she 26, russian, clevere beautiful, trustworthy and yes she has your email”.

In another email released, Epstein’s accomplice, the British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, addressed a sender who calls themselves “The Invisible Man” as “Andrew”, and referred to “Sarah and the kids”.

An email exchange from August 2002 shows the two accounts talking about organising a weekend together on “the Island” only for the Invisible Man to decline, with Maxwell suggesting “5 stunning red heads” would be there.

Epstein killed himself in prison in 2019 as he faced fresh child sexual abuse charges. Mountbatten-Windsor has withdrawn from royal life and been stripped of his titles over his links to Epstein.

In 2022, he paid a reported £12m settlement to Virginia Giuffre. Giuffre, who killed herself last April, claimed she was forced to have sex with Mountbatten-Windsor after being trafficked to him by Epstein. He has always strenuously denied these allegations and made the payment without admitting liability.

The files released on Friday also show that Maxwell sent an email to the Invisible Man expressing her condolences on the loss of his grandmother, the queen mother, who died in 2002.

It read: “Sweat pea – sorry you had to rush home, and also under such sad circumstances. However much the passing was to be expected in one so old, it does not make it any less sad.

“She was wonderful, and I am happy that I managed to meet her and speak with her. We shall reschedule. Love you. Gx.”

A reply the next day from the Invisible Man reads: “Got your message this morning. Sorry to have missed you yesterday I will ring later today to chat. A xxx.”

Maxwell is serving a 20-year jail sentence in the US for child sex trafficking.

In another email from the same account, the sender asks someone, whose name has been redacted, if they are having more children and labelling them “super sperm”.

The email said: “Sorry – I am in LA on my way to Hawaii. Is it true you are having more children? I shall have to refer to you as super sperm!”

The tranche of messages also show Elon Musk had more extensive ties to Epstein than previously known.

Emails from 2013 appear to show the two cordially messaging each other to make plans for the entrepreneur to visit Epstein’s island Little St James.

It also emerged that Epstein sent thousands of pounds in bank transfers after his release from prison in 2009 to Peter Mandelson’s husband Reinaldo Avila da Silva, according to the emails published by the US Department of Justice.

Da Silva emailed Epstein on 7 September 2009, about two months after Epstein was released from prison, asking him to fund an osteopathy course and other expenses.

Mandelson said on Friday: “I was never culpable or complicit in his crimes. Like everyone else I learned the actual truth about him after his death.”

Da Silva has not yet commented.