Monday, February 21, 2011

The British prince and the Jewish sex predator

Prince Andrew, the British special representative for international trade and investment, and convicted child-sex predator Jeffrey Epstein were photographed strolling through Central Park in December 2010 - shortly after the prostitute-loving hedge-fund manager moved back to his $50 million Upper East Side town house from his Palm Beach, Fla., mansion. Epstein served an 18-month sentence in 2008 in Florida under a plea deal in which he confessed to two counts of soliciting a minor for prostitution and soliciting prostitution. He spent part of it in a vacant wing of a Palm Beach jail, and the rest under house arrest. His victim was identified in court papers as a 14-year-old girl identified only as "Jane Doe." Epstein, a Level Three sex offender, paid the youngster - one of a string of girls who allegedly visited him - $200 for a massage at his Palm Beach retreat in 2005. She said he used a vibrator on her while he masturbated, according to the court papers. During his New York visit, Prince Andrew, 51, stayed for four days at Epstein's East 71st Street pad, where the 58-year-old businessman reportedly threw his own welcome-home bash for celebrities, including Katie Couric, Charlie Rose and George Stephanopoulos. The two men were introduced around 2000 by a mutual friend, Ghislaine Maxwell, daughter of the late disgraced media tycoon Robert Maxwell. Andrew has enjoyed frequent holidays with Epstein. In return, Epstein - who famously associated with ex-President Bill Clinton - got invited to Queen Elizabeth's Norfolk retreat, Sandringham, for a weekend and was a guest at her birthday at Windsor in 2000. Epstein made 16 out-of-court financial settlements with other girls who had leveled similar sexual allegations against him.

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