Family of sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell ‘astonished’ at Andrew’s arrest

In millions of pages of documents released by the US Department of Justice, Andrew appeared to share reports of official visits to Hong Kong, Vietnam and Singapore with Epstein. Picture: Phil Noble, Reuters. 

The family of convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell have said they were “astonished” to see Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor had been arrested.

The former prince was taken into custody on Wednesday on suspicion of misconduct in public office after being accused of sharing sensitive information with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein while serving as the UK’s trade envoy.

Posting on X, Maxwell’s family called for “transparency” and “evidence” which they claimed the disgraced British socialite “never received”.

In millions of pages of documents released by the US Department of Justice, Andrew appeared to share reports of official visits to Hong Kong, Vietnam and Singapore with Epstein.

One email from November 2010 appeared to be forwarded to Epstein by Andrew five minutes after he was sent it by his then-special adviser Amir Patel, while another the following month appeared to show Andrew sent a confidential brief on investment opportunities in the reconstruction of Helmand province, Afghanistan.

In their statement, posted on the X account titled Real Ghislaine, Maxwell’s family said: “Astonished to see Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor arrested today over alleged misconduct in public office linked to material from the so‑called Epstein ‘Files’.

“He is entitled to the presumption of innocence and a fair process – which our sister Ghislaine never received.

“We need transparency, evidence, and the same rules for everyone – not trial by media and political expediency.”