Prince Andrew says he stayed in several of Jeffrey Epstein’s homes but only saw the disgraced financier ‘once or twice a year’

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Prince Andrew on Saturday released a fresh statement distancing himself from Jeffrey Epstein, saying he saw the disgraced financier "probably no more than only once or twice a year."
The Duke of York acknowledged that he stayed in "a number" of Epstein’s homes over the years, but said he never saw any conduct from Epstein that hinted at his alleged crimes.
"At no stage during the limited time I spent with him did I see, witness or suspect any behaviour of the sort that subsequently led to his arrest and conviction," the statement said.
The prince was friends with Epstein for over 20 years, according to documented contact of their relationship.
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Prince Andrew has released a fresh statement distancing himself from his former friend, the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, saying he rarely saw him, and never witnessed anything that hinted at his alleged crimes.

"During the time I knew him, I saw him infrequently and probably no more than only once or twice a year," the prince said in a statement released Saturday.

The Duke of York acknowledged that he stayed in "a number" of Epstein’s homes over the years, but said he never saw any conduct from Epstein that suggested he was engaged in any criminal sexual activity.

"I have stayed in a number of his residences. At no stage during the limited time I spent with him did I see, witness or suspect any behaviour of the sort that subsequently led to his arrest and conviction," the statement said.

Epstein, 66, died in an apparent suicide earlier in August while he was being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City as he awaited trial for charges of sex trafficking and conspiracy. He had pleaded not guilty to the charges, which carried a jail sentence of up to 45 years.

Reuters

The prince also acknowledged in his statement that seeing Epstein again after his release from prison following a conviction for committing sex crimes was a "mistake."

"I have said previously that it was a mistake and an error to see him after his release in 2010 and I can only reiterate my regret that I was mistaken to think that what I thought I knew of him was evidently not the real person, given what we now know," Prince Andrew said in the statement.

Prince Andrew and Epstein were friends for nearly 20 years, according to documented contact of their relationship. The prince’s statement Saturday said they first met in 1999.

The connections between Epstein and Prince Andrew have resurfaced in recent weeks with the unsealing of documents, made public this month, alleging that he made sexual advances on women recruited for him by the British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend.

The two women named in the incident, Johanna Sjoberg and Virginia Roberts Giuffre, previously alleged to have been recruited by Epstein’s associates to perform massages that quickly devolved into sexual abuse. Giuffre said she was recruited at 15 years old.

Florida Southern District Court

In a statement last Sunday, the Duke of York denied these allegations strenuously, and said he "has been appalled by the recent reports of Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged crimes."

The prince’s Saturday statement is markedly different to the content of a 2011 Vanity Fair article that surfaced this week, in which it was reported that he had defended his controversial friendship with Epstein, telling a friend who warned him against it that they were being "such a puritan."

The article, by feature writer Edward Klein for the August 2011 issue cited an unnamed source who "knows both men well."

In Saturday’s statement, Prince Andrew also expressed his sympathy for Epstein’s alleged victims.

"I have tremendous sympathy for all those affected by his actions and behaviour," he said.

"I deplore the exploitation of any human being and would not condone, participate in, or encourage any such behaviour."

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