Prince Andrew had daily massages when he spent “weeks” at Jeffrey Epstein’s Florida home, according to the billionaire’s former housekeeper in court documents that been have revealed.
The newly-released papers include the transcript of a interview with Juan Alessi, who worked at the paedophile financier’s Palm Beach residence.
The unsealing of the first batch of documents caused the court’s website to crash earlier this week, but much of the content repeats information that was already in the public domain.
In a -taped interview under oath in 2009, Mr Alessi faced questions on Epstein’s relationship with the Duke of York and his former wife, Sarah Ferguson.
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Jeffrey Epstein took his own life in prison in 2019. Pic: AP
Mr Alessi said he believes the Duchess of York visited the Florida estate “only once and for a short time” but identified Andrew as someone who “spent weeks with us”.
When asked if he would “frequently have massages”, Mr Alessi replied: “I would say, daily massages.”
Andrew stepped back from public life amid a furore over his friendship with Epstein in November 2019.
More on Ghislaine Maxwell
He was then cast out of the working monarchy and stripped of his HRH title when Virginia Giuffre accused him of sexually assaulting her when she was 17. He strenuously denies any wrongdoing.
The third and fourth batches of documents with details on Epstein’s sexual abuse of teenage girls includes a total of 73 exhibits.
The third tranche consists of 411 pages and the fourth totals 649.
The papers were part of a lawsuit filed by Ms Giuffre against Epstein’s former girlfriend and long-time associate Ghislaine Maxwell. The lawsuit was settled in 2017.
Included in the newly-released claims was a transcript of a 2016 -taped interview with Maxwell by Ms Giuffre’s lawyer Sigrid McCawley that showed the disgraced socialite saying she did not know how Epstein met the duke and insisting she did not introduce them.
The deposition saw Maxwell describe Ms Giuffre’s alleged meetings with Andrew as a “tissue of lies”.
Ms McCawley asked Maxwell: “Did you introduce him to Jeffrey?” She responded: “That would be another of Virginia’s lies and the lies you perpetrate. I never introduced Prince Andrew to Jeffrey Epstein at any time ever.”
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Prince Andrew, Virginia Giuffre and Ghislaine Maxwell, pictured in a photo believed to have been taken in 2001. Pic: Rex/Shutterstock
Maxwell admitted there was a Duke of York puppet in Epstein’s New York apartment.
Andrew was accused by Johanna Sjoberg of groping her breast while posing with what is reported to have been a Spitting Image puppet of himself in Epstein’s Manhattan home in 2001.
In eence that emerged this week, Ms Sjoberg said: “They decided to take a picture with it, in which Virginia and Andrew sat on a couch.
“They put the puppet on Virginia’s lap, and I sat on Andrew’s lap, and they put the puppet’s hand on Virginia’s breast, and Andrew put his hand on my breast, and they took a photo.”
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Johanna Sjoberg has accused Prince Andrew of touching her breast in 2001. Pic: ANL/Shutterstock
Maxwell was asked if she put the caricature’s hand on Ms Sjoberg’s breast – to which she replied that she “did not recollect anything around the puppet”.
The documents are sprinkled with the names of celebrities and politicians who socialised or worked with Epstein in the years before accusations against him became public.
The third set of documents include photocopies of Epstein’s assistant’s notepad, revealing Harvey Weinstein – who was exposed as a sexual predator in October 2017 – once called the paedophile financier.
He also received a call from the wife of former Victoria’s Secret chief executive Les Wexner “to talk about something private”, the documents reveal.
They also show that lawyers hunting for information on Maxwell’s computer searched for words including “Prince” and “Andrew” as well as the terms “masturbate” and “nipple”.
More from Sky News:Why the court docs are being released nowAll the names mentioned in the Epstein docs so far
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Officers specifically searched Maxwell’s computer for information on Prince Andrew
Andrew has found himself back in the spotlight though, as the second release included testimony from Ms Sjoberg claiming he touched her breast.
Buckingham Palace has previously said the allegations are “categorically untrue”.
Other notable names mentioned are Stephen Hawking, Michael Jackson and Bill Clinton but their inclusion does not mean they are accused of wrongdoing.
Meanwhile, the King is reportedly preparing to withdraw private funding for the security operation at the Duke of York’s home.
The Telegraph said Andrew will have to fund the multi-million pound security costs at Royal Lodge himself if he wants to stay in the 30-room mansion in Windsor Great Park. Buckingham Palace declined to comment.
