Epstein tried to lure me to dinner with Andrew, victim claims

 A victim of Jeffrey Epstein has claimed that he tried to lure her to dinner with Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.

Ann Fisher said Epstein, the late financier and convicted paedophile, groped her in his Upper East Side mansion after she went to what she believed was a business meeting with him in 2001.

Before the assault, she claimed that they had conversed for hours, and he had invited her to a dinner in New York with a member of the British Royal family, who she later “assumed” was the former Duke of York.

Andrew, who had his titles stripped by the King last month, was in New York that October for a three-day visit, according to official records.

While the pair did not meet, Ms Fisher said that Epstein told her she would fit in at dinner because she was half-English and resembled Diana, the late Princess of Wales.

Ms Fisher said she was sexually assaulted by Epstein in May 2001, saying he afterwards offered her a cheque – which she refused.

Epstein’s assistants then repeatedly called her on her mobile, work and home phone to pester her to attend the dinner, she said.

She told ITV News: “When I was there he was like: ‘Oh, you should come to a dinner, you’re English and I can introduce you to the Royal family.’ And I was like: ‘Okay.’ But then after he assaulted me I didn’t want anything to do with it.”

She said Epstein had told her “you look like Princess Di” and added: “Later, I learnt that [the then] Prince Andrew had a thing for Princess Di, so I kind of put it together.”

“I called my boyfriend at the time, sobbing and hysterical,” she said.

While Ms Fisher never met Andrew, she did meet Sarh Ferguson, his ex-wife, at a Rolling Stones concert by coincidence.

The reputation of Ms Ferguson, the former Duchess, has also been damaged by the Epstein association that brought down the House of York.

She was dropped by a number of charities that she had been patron of for years, including The Teenage Cancer Trust, after an email came to light in which she apologised to the paedophile for publicly disowning him.

The organisations – including the British Heart Foundation – announced their decision to remove the former duchess, 65, as patron in September following reports that she described Epstein as a “supreme friend” in 2011 after he was convicted of procuring a child for prostitution.

‘Serious lapses of judgment’

Meanwhile, last month the King removed his younger brother’s titles in full and announced that he had surrendered the lease on Royal Lodge after the disclosure that Andrew had remained in touch with Epstein longer than he had admitted, and by doing so had misled the public.

Ms Fisher said that her assault by Epstein took place about a month after the period when the late Virginia Giuffre claimed she was raped and abused by Andrew, in 2001.

Ms Giuffre, who took her own life in April, claimed she had three encounters with Andrew, starting when she was 17 and he was 41, and accused him of being “entitled – as if he believed having sex with me was his birthright”.

While the former prince continued to deny allegations made against him, a royal source said there had been “serious lapses of judgment” which forced the King to act in removing his titles.

A civil claim brought by Ms Giuffre in the US was settled out of court in 2022 with no admission of guilt.

Meanwhile, the former Duke of York has been summoned to appear before Congress, which is investigating abuse claims against him.

Democratic members of the House oversight committee have said they believed Andrew may also have crucial information about co-conspirators and enablers of Epstein’s crimes.

Robert Garcia, the most senior Democratic member of the committee, said: “Rich and powerful men have evaded justice for far too long.

“Now, former Prince Andrew has the opportunity to come clean and provide justice for the survivors.”

Representatives of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor have been approached for comment.