She needs to fix it’: Jeffrey Epstein’s plot to win redemption via Sarah Ferguson.

No sooner had Ferguson’s crisis-PR mea culpa hit the presses, however, than another operation was kicking into gear in the US, one to help Epstein launder his reputation – and one in which the former duchess was intended to play a major part.

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Newly released files reveal how the paedophile tried to leverage his relationship with the former Duchess of York (should it NOT be Duchless of)

When Sarah Ferguson, the former Duchess of York, was confronted in 2011 about her closeness to the paedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein she could not have been more fulsome in her regret.

“I personally, on behalf of myself, deeply regret that Jeffrey Epstein became involved in any way with me,” she said. “I abhor paedophilia and any sexual abuse of children and know that this was a gigantic error of judgment on my behalf. I am just so contrite I cannot say.”

In the interview with the Daily Telegraph, Ferguson admitted that she allowed Epstein to pay off £15,000 of her debts. “Whenever I can I will repay the money and will have nothing ever to do with Jeffrey Epstein ever again,” she added.

The new tranche of files released on the late child sex offender reveal how he tried to leverage what he felt was his close relationship with Sarah Ferguson to bounce back from the disgrace of his conviction for soliciting underage girls in Florida.

Emails disclosed by the US justice department on Friday show that Epstein and his publicist detailed a plan to persuade Ferguson to release a statement saying he was “not a pedo” after she publicly distanced herself from him in the interview.

Epstein’s confidence that he could make Ferguson U-turn on her criticism may be born of the close relationship they shared, and of the many favours he had done for her down the years. An insider claimed he had been “blindsided” by the interview, adding: “They were very close until this point.”

As well revealing Epstein’s reputation redemption plot, files released yesterday show the extent to which Ferguson flattered and benefited from her relationship with the banker.

Ferguson continued her relationship with Epstein after he was jailed for child sex offences in 2008 and, while he was under house arrest the following year, described him as the “brother [she] always wished for”.

The week after Ferguson’s interview, Epstein discussed the situation with a crisis management publicist, Mike Sitrick. Epstein suggested Ferguson could release a statement saying she had been “duped” by lawyers representing some of his accusers.

“She now knows that what she was told was based on falsehoods, and fabrications designed to enhance their civil suit,” Epstein said. “She should out the newspapers on the offering of money for stories.”

Sitrick, understood to be working for lawyers Epstein had retained, responded saying they needed to put pressure on Ferguson to change her account. He said: “Agree, quite frankly whatever her excuse she needs to say she was mistaken, she apologises, feels terrible. Jeffrey is not a pedophile.

theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/j…