Norway’s former prime minister, Thorbjorn Jagland, has been charged with 'aggravated corruption' over allegations that he received gifts, travel and loans from Jeffrey Epstein.Heiko Junge/The Associated Press
The release of more than three million documents by the U.S. Department of Justice related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has reverberated far and wide. But the impact has been particularly dramatic in Europe where the revelations have had repercussions for royalty, politicians and diplomats.
Although he died in 2019 in a New York prison cell while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges, the full scope of Mr. Epstein’s European network is only beginning to emerge and the fallout for many of his past associates is proving painful. Reputations have been tarnished, careers have abruptly ended and criminal investigations are under way in several countries.
The trove of e-mails, photographs, bank records and other records reveal the remarkable connections Mr. Epstein managed to cultivate even though he was a university dropout who taught high-school math before turning to the financial world and launching an investment firm. His lavish spending, socializing and charm clearly won over dozens of leading figures in Britain, France, Norway, Belgium, Slovakia and Germany.
Grégoire Roos, director of the Europe and Russia and Eurasia programs at the London-based Chatham House think tank, said the files show how Mr. Epstein was able to exploit the vulnerabilities of powerful people.
“At that level, leaders are very insecure,” Mr. Roos said in an interview. “Those people might feel very threatened all the time. So, anyone that can play in your interest and help you, there’s a kind of mutual attraction because you see the other as an ally. And you reach a certain level of intimacy where you can talk about anything.”
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He added that the documents also say a lot about how Europe’s elite crave acceptance by Americans.
“It shows, psychologically speaking, the level of intellectual attraction that the U.S. and the U.S. elite has had on Europeans. Here’s this New York banker hosting lavish parties in a great, lavish mansion and they love it. They feel like they belong to the top,” he said.
That level of endearment clearly shows in many of the e-mails contained in the files.
“You tickle my brain,” Norway’s Princess Mette-Marit wrote in one e-mail to Mr. Epstein in 2012. In other e-mails, she called him “soft hearted,” a “sweetheart” and “very charming.” The two got so close that the princess borrowed Mr. Epstein’s property in Palm Beach, Fla., for several days in 2013.
During the 2011 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, a friend told Mr. Epstein in an e-mail; “you are right, it is a circus here.. but the queen of Belgium say hi, and more importantly the beautiful young crown princess of Norway wishes you were here.”
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Princess Mette-Marit, the 52-year-old wife of Crown Prince Haakon who is heir to the Norwegian throne, has apologized for “the situation I have put the royal family in.”
The Belgian Royal Palace has said that Queen Paola was not in Davos in 2011, but that Princess Mathilde was there. Officials declined further comment. Prince Laurent, brother of King Philippe, has acknowledged meeting Mr. Epstein twice but declined further invitations.
The fallout from the files has gone beyond some uncomfortable messages. Police investigations are under way in several countries.
Norway’s former prime minister, Thorbjorn Jagland, has been charged with “aggravated corruption” over allegations that he received gifts, travel and loans from Mr. Epstein. Norwegian police are also investigating former ambassador Mona Juul over allegations that her family was set to receive up to US$10-million from Mr. Epstein before his death in 2019. Mr. Jagland and Ms. Juul have denied wrongdoing.
In Britain, police have begun reviewing messages between Mr. Epstein and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly Prince Andrew, who also had a close relationship with Mr. Epstein.
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Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor has already been caught up in allegations that he had several liaisons with young girls arranged by Mr. Epstein and his partner, Ghislaine Maxwell, who has been convicted of child sex trafficking.
Police are now reviewing Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor’s conduct as a British trade envoy between 2001 and 2011 and whether he gave Mr. Epstein access to government files. The former prince has denied the allegations.
London’s Metropolitan Police force has also launched an investigation into Peter Mandelson, Britain’s former ambassador to the U.S. and a former member of the House of Lords who was close to Mr. Epstein. Mr. Mandelson faces allegations that during his time as a cabinet minister from 2008 and 2010, he leaked sensitive information to Mr. Epstein.
The fallout from that probe has reached Downing Street with calls for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to resign over his decision to appoint Mr. Mandelson as ambassador in 2024. Mr. Starmer has insisted that he didn’t know the extent of the relationship between the two men until the recent release of the files.
Prosecutors in Paris have opened an investigation into connections between Mr. Epstein and several prominent figures including senior diplomat Fabrice Aidan and former minister Jack Lang who recently resigned from a top cultural body, the Arab World Institute.
More probes could be coming in Germany and Slovakia where the Prime Minister’s national-security adviser, Miroslav Lajcak, resigned earlier this month over his ties to Mr. Epstein.
Mr. Roos, from Chatham House, said the connections that Mr. Epstein managed to make across Europe were nothing short of extraordinary.
“The guy must have had a level of emotional intelligence close to genius,” he said. “Honestly, the ability of identifying the weak spot in everyone’s psychology, and leveraging that, using that to get closer, to build trust, it’s quite something.”