How Epstein and Andrew drew a PM’s daughter into a swamp

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London: Jeffrey Epstein seemed to be welcomed back to New York society almost as soon as he emerged from prison and house arrest in 2010, when his friends began helping him reclaim his place among the city’s wealthy and well-connected. His criminal conviction for sex with a minor did not stop him from gaining invitations to opening nights.

Prince Andrew was back in touch within months. Ghislaine Maxwell was with him once more. An entire network of associates – some might say enablers – acted as if his guilty plea would be quickly forgotten.

Katherine Keating past connection to Jeffrey Epstein has resurfaced in newly released emails between Epstein and Prince Andrew.

This was the world Katherine Keating entered when she arrived in Manhattan at the age of 29. The daughter of the former prime minister, Paul Keating, had been a Labor policy adviser in Sydney. Toward the end of 2010, however, she turned up in New York. She was said to be dating a millionaire hotel owner, Andre Balazs.

Keating has been the subject of speculation ever since her link to Andrew and Epstein made headlines in August 2019, about two weeks after the sex offender died during his second stint in prison. A lot of the speculation has been malicious, based purely on social media chatter.

Now, an email from the vault sheds light on the connection. It also highlights the way anyone who came close to Epstein can be tarnished, even if there is nothing to suggest they did anything wrong.

Epstein sent the email to Andrew on February 16, 2011. “Would you ask Katherine Keating if she would like to come for dinner with Woody Allen next week in New York?” he said.

Andrew replied: “Will do.” The emails were reported on Sunday by The Daily Mail, based on documents being examined by the US Congress.

Keating had landed in New York about 10 weeks earlier. There is no sign she knew Epstein much. Her friendship with Andrew appeared to date from the previous March, when they were both at the opening of the Meydan racecourse in Dubai.

Jeffrey Epstein died in 2019 before he could stand trial on sex-trafficking charges.

She was sufficiently connected, however, to be in Epstein’s seven-storey townhouse in Manhattan in December 2010. Unbeknownst to Epstein and Andrew, a photographer was watching them. Keating was seen leaving the house as Andrew waved her farewell at the front door.

Her misfortune was to be in the house at what turned out to be a pivotal moment. Epstein and Andrew went for a walk in Central Park – and the photographer, Jae Donnelly, took the shot that proved they were back in touch. Andrew chose to keep up his friendship with a man convicted of sex with a minor.

Keating has never talked about why she was at Epstein’s house that December. But she confirmed she went to the dinner in February.

“It was a large social event,” she told The Daily Mail, and she mentioned prominent media personalities who also attended. “A sizable chunk of NY society was there, including Barbara Walters, Charlie Rose and Katie Couric. At the time, I had only lived in NY about ten weeks, and was happy to accept the odd social invitation.”

She could not be contacted by this masthead for comment.

All of this is fuel for those who assume the guilt of anyone who came near Epstein. Social media has spread slurs about Keating for years because of the townhouse photo. Some will add the email to the mix.

But the public interest is slim. Keating does not hold any public office. She is under no obligation to answer questions about her private life. The main reason for looking into the new email is to counter the conspiracies.

One assumption, for instance, is that Keating knew Maxwell and moved in the same circles as Epstein. In fact, there is no evidence that she knew Maxwell before 2014, when she interviewed her for a project called IdeaPod, published by the Huffington Post.

Another assumption is that she was very close to Andrew. Instead, the friendship seems to have been with his daughters, Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice. Keating was photographed with Eugenie at Fashion Week in New York in 2014.

At the risk of labouring the point, there are no grounds for suggesting an intimate relationship with Andrew.

Prince Andrew is under renewed pressure over his links with Epstein.

Nor is there a reason to think Keating knew all the murky details about Epstein. The plea deal meant some of the facts did not see the light of day until years later.

Keating was not alone in walking too close to the spider’s web. Epstein drew many people around him from 2010 onwards, when he regained his place in New York society. Some of them were his accomplices. Others were simply invited to dinner.

He used donations to charities, amplified by publicists, to try to bury the past. One New York publicist, Peggy Siegal, ensured he was invited to events. Siegal told The New York Times in 2019 that she had no trouble restarting their friendship after his prison term: “The culture before #MeToo was – ‘You’ve done your time, now you’re forgiven’.”

Siegal arranged a dinner party for Prince Andrew at Epstein’s mansion in 2010, according to The New York Times. Those at the dinner included filmmaker Woody Allen and his wife, Soon-Yi Previn, as well as broadcasters Charlie Rose, Katie Couric and George Stephanopoulos.

Turning up to dinner did not make someone an Epstein accomplice. It might demonstrate poor judgment, or ignorance, but not necessarily guilt. Comedian Chelsea Handler attended the 2010 dinner, for instance, and later said she had no idea who Epstein was. She also asked a pointed question of Allen and his wife: “So, how did you two meet?”

Two key conclusions emerge from the email about Keating, Epstein and the prince. The first is that there is no evidence that Keating did anything wrong.

The second is that Andrew is utterly exposed. This is the second email to emerge within the last two weeks that confirms he misled the public when he claimed that he cut off contact with Epstein on the day they walked in Central Park in December 2010.

Remember, Andrew was adamant about this on the BBC’s Newsnight program six years ago: “I never had any contact with him from that day forward.” This claim unravelled on October 13 when The Times revealed an email he sent to Epstein on February 28, 2011, when their friendship was in the news. “Keep in close touch and we’ll play some more soon!!!!” he wrote.

Now we know Andrew was helping Epstein line up dinner guests on February 16, 2011. He has been caught out again. This only strengthens the case for stronger action by Buckingham Palace and parliament.

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