A 2011 email has resurfaced, which suggests Sarah Ferguson owed Jeffrey Epstein thousands in 'unpaid wages'.
Images of the bombshell email were shared by photographer Christopher Anderson, who recently took *those* photos of Donald Trump's team for Vanity Fair. In his Instagram post, Anderson explains he was commissioned to photograph Epstein in 2015 for a New York Magazine article.
"I took a picture of his desk, and you will see an email printed out that is an exchange between Epstein and the Royal Government office concerning payment from the Duke and Duchess [of York]," Anderson said in the Instagram caption.
The email was seemingly sent by Johnny O'Sullivan, Sarah's former assistant, who was claiming £78,000 in unpaid wages and other bills, per reports from the time. The email, dated 17 February 2011, was addressed to Amanda Thirsk, who served as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's private secretary. The then-Prince Andrew and his ex-wife, Sarah, were also on CC.
A close-up of the email is shown in the final slide of the carousel, and it reads [sic]:
"Dear Amanda,
Everyone's clicking on...
I have expressed my concern to you that, despite all our concerted efforts, I still remain unpaid. The financial arrangements have been agreed directly between the Duke, the Duchess and I for some 2 months.
Yet from what I understand, there is no plan in place to pay me the $59,933 I am now clearly owed. I agreed to reduce the amount I am owed by the Duchess in wages from $72,596 to $59,933 in order to reach an agreement with the Duke and Duchess.
The Duchess then emailed me, twice, to say that my offer was to receive this money lightly given the debts incurred as an acceptable to both her and the Duke. I did not waive my right result of this non-payment and resulting struggle I have endured to try and support myself and pay for my MBA course at Columbia."
It's unclear if that's the entirety of the email or if it has been cut off at the end. We do know, however, that Sarah ended up owing Esptein money because he covered the debt she owed to O'Sullivan. Following discussions with Andrew's office, Epstein stepped in and paid O'Sullivan £15,000 so that Sarah could focus on restructuring the rest of her debts, which were an estimated £5 million.
Sarah later publicly said that accepting money from Epstein had been a "gigantic error of judgment". In her statement, she also promised that she would never have anything to do with him again, saying: "I abhor paedophilia and any sexual abuse of children."
However, just a few weeks after, emails leaked by the Mail on Sunday seemingly show her apologising to her "dear friend" for the comments she made. "I know you feel hellaciously let down by me from what you were either told or read, and I must humbly apologise to you and your heart for that."
As well as sharing images of the email about Sarah's alleged debt to the now-convicted sex offender, Anderson recalled how Epstein threatened him to hand over the photos he took. "Several days later, [Epstein] decided to pull out of the story and started calling me to demand the pictures," the photographer says. "Then the threats started."
Anderson recalls that Epstein sent a "bodyguard" to his studio to "intimidate" him, which he says worked. Ultimately, the story was killed by New York Magazine, and Anderson handed over the photos and his hard drive to Epstein's bodyguard. A decade on, however, Anderson says he uncovered another set of copies and decided to post them online.
Perhaps what is most interesting, however, is why the email was sitting on Epstein's desk four years after it was sent. Some have theorised that Epstein was sitting on emails that could damage the monarchy, as Andrew's friendship with him had already become a scandal in light of Virginia Giuffre's accusations.
