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Epstein Revelations Take Toll in Europe02/13 06:09
GENEVA (AP) -- The fallout from the Jeffrey Epstein saga is rippling through
Europe.
Politicians, diplomats, officials and royals have seen reputations
tarnished, investigations launched and jobs lost after a trove of more than 3
million pages of Epstein-related documents released by the U.S. Justice
Department revealed their ties to the American financier and convicted sex
offender who died behind bars in 2019.
Apart from the former Prince Andrew, none of them face claims of sexual
wrongdoing. They have been toppled for maintaining friendly relationships with
Epstein after he became a convicted sex offender.
Some experts note the reckoning in Europe's parliamentary democracies has
been swifter and more severe -- for now -- than in the United States, where
Epstein built his empire and hobnobbed with many American elites.
Here's a look at some of those in the Old World caught up in the new furor.
U.K. royal family
The former Prince Andrew, one of King Charles III's two brothers, is one of
the most prominent names linked to the Epstein underworld involving the
recruitment of underage girls for sex.
He has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, but the scandalous headlines forced
the king last year to strip Andrew of his royal titles, including that of
prince. He is now known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
The recent document dump exposed the depth of ties between
Mountbatten-Windsor and Epstein, revealing more unsavory details that have
jolted the royal family, including an allegation that the former prince sent
trade reports to Epstein in 2010.
Mountbatten-Windsor has been forced to move out of the royal estate that he
occupied for more than two decades. Buckingham Palace says that the king is
ready to support police in the event of an inquiry into whether
Mountbatten-Windsor gave confidential information to Epstein.
British politics
The U.K. government has been shaken by new revelations about Peter
Mandelson, a longtime Labour party stalwart who Prime Minister Keir Starmer
brought out of the political wilderness as U.K. ambassador in Washington.
Mandelson was stripped of that plum post in September, after Epstein emails
showed that they had had closer ties than the ambassador had initially
acknowledged.
While Starmer himself isn't implicated in the files, his position has come
under threat over appointing Mandelson. He has faced calls from his opponents
and from within his own Labour party to resign -- which he has so far refused.
Mandelson is now facing a criminal investigation, after the new files
suggested that he may have shared market-sensitive information with Epstein a
decade and a half ago.
Norway's crown princess
The new documents showed, among other things, that Norwegian Crown Princess
Mette-Marit, the 52-year-old wife of Crown Prince Haakon, borrowed an
Epstein-owned property in Palm Beach, Florida, for several days in 2013.
And in an email exchange between Epstein and Mette-Marit in 2012, he noted
how he was in Paris "on my wife hunt," but "i prefer Scandinavians."
She replied that the French capital was "good for adultery," but "Scandis"
were "better wife material."
Mette-Marit apologized this month for "the situation I have put the royal
family in," and said: "Some of the content of the messages between Epstein and
me does not represent the person I want to be."
Norway ex-prime minister
The head of the economic crime unit of Norwegian police said Thursday that
former Prime Minister Thorbjorn Jagland has been charged with "aggravated
corruption" in connection with an investigation linked to the release of the
Epstein files.
kokrim, as the police unit is known, said last week it would investigate
whether gifts, travel and loans were received in connection with Jagland's
position.
On Thursday, unit chief Pl K. Lonseth also said its teams conducted a
search of Jagland's residence in Oslo on Thursday, along with searches at two
other properties in Risor, a coastal town to the south of the capital, and in
Rauland to the west.
The searches were carried out after the Council of Europe, a human rights
body that Jagland once led, said it was honoring a request from Norwegian
authorities to waive the immunity from legal processes that he had enjoyed.
The council lifted the immunity, saying it was intended to protect
activities linked to official duties, not "personal benefit." Jagland is also a
former head of the Norwegian Nobel Committee.
Norwegian former ambassador
Mona Juul, Norway's ex-ambassador to Jordan, who was involved in
Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts in the 1990s, resigned over the weekend,
after reports said that Epstein left $10 million to Juul's children in a will
drawn up shortly before he died.
Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said that a ministry investigation into
her knowledge of and contact with Epstein will continue, and Juul will continue
discussions with Norwegian officials to clarify the situation.
French ex-culture minister
Jack Lang, 86, stepped down as head of the Arab World Institute in Paris
over alleged past financial links to Epstein that prompted a tax investigation.
Lang was summoned to appear Sunday at the French Foreign Ministry, which
oversees the institute, but submitted his resignation.
The former culture minister under President Francois Mitterrand is the
highest-profile figure in France impacted by the U.S. Justice Department's
release of files on Jan. 30.
Slovakia ex-foreign minister
Prime Minister Robert Fico's national security adviser, Miroslav Lajk,
resigned over past communications with Epstein -- including text messages in
which they discussed "gorgeous" girls.
"When I'm reading the messages today, I feel like an idiot," Lajk told
Slovak public radio.
Lajk, a former foreign minister and former president of the U.N. General
Assembly, has denied any wrongdoing. He said that he considered Epstein a
valuable contact who was accepted by the rich and powerful in the U.S.
"Those messages are nothing more than stupid male egos in action," Lajk
said. "Nothing more than words ever came of it."
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