The Parties, the Procurer and the Purification of the Prince

Prince Andrew has gotten some unflattering ink spilled on his name by the press recently. It began when Sharon Churcher, investigative editor of the National Enquirer, revealed that at least one woman has come forward with allegations that she was used by the royal as a sex slave after being groomed and procured by billionaire and convicted child prostitute solicitor Jeffery Epstein and his then girl friend, newspaper heiress Ghislaine Maxwell. Both the English and the American tabloid press are stringing the scandal along, yet simultaneously forgetting the past. This is not the first time the Prince has gotten himself into an unflattering limelight with Maxwell.

The first time was in 2000 when Prince Andrew was scolded by the press for attending Heidi Klum's sex-themed Halloween party with Ghislane Maxwell. Klum is said to throw a hell of a party, if you are rich enough, and connected enough, to attend. Maxwell was close with Epstein at the time. Epstein made his fortune managing the fortune of billionaire clothing magnet Les Wexner. Part of Wexner's financial empire included Victoria's secret where Klum was a front line star model.

Friends of Epstein and Maxwell cleaned it up quick. According to a Daily Mail story written six months later (also by Sharon Churcher) thirty people met in a New York restaurant to bless the Prince's rehabilitation into Manhattan society. Lynn Forester, wife of banking executive and the Economist director Sir Evelyn Robert de Rothschild put the event together. ABC News host Barbara Walters, and New York Daily News publisher Mort Zuckerman were present.

Zuckerman and Walters were friends of Jeffery Epstein, as was Sir Evelyn Robert de Rothschild. All three are listed in Epstein's personal phone book, which was published from court records by Gawker in 2009. It was of interest after Epstein's arrest in Palm Beach and trial in 2007 for solicitation of a minor. Noted Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz was brought on by Epstein and secured a very generous plea bargain deal to close the case.

Prince Andrew is not the only person to be helped by political fixer Lynn Forester. She provided a Manhattan address for an expensive fundraiser by Hillary Clinton hosted for Chelsea Clinton's mother-in-law, former Congresswoman Majorie Margolies. Margolies was married to former Congressman Edward Mezvinsky, who was convicted of mail and wire fraud in 2001. Hillary received large campaign contributions from both Maxwell and Forester listing the same Manhattan address. Ghislaine Maxwell was at Chelsea's wedding to Margolies's and Mezvinsky's son Marc Mezvinsky. Forester spent the night after her wedding to Evelyn de Rothschild in the White House while Clinton was first lady.

Although Bill Clinton has been reputedly admonished by Hillary for being seen anywhere near Epstein, the latter had neither Clinton's phone number. He does have a direct line to Tony Blair. In this insular world Epstein seems to be hard to miss. Forester and Epstein's many friends in media (like Fox News owner Rupert Murdock and Mario Calvo-Platero, long time editor of Il Sole 24 Ore) and government are a phone call away, ever ready to clean it all up.

Epstein's charitable non-profit gave Maxwell's non-profit, Terra-Mar, $57,000 in cash in 2013. Terra-Mar mailing address is in a building on Manhattan's Eastside that Lynn Forester owns.

Two other persons in Epstein's phone book, Larry Coben and Ariadne Calvo-Platero, were listed are on Terra-Mar's board in the most recently available documents. Epstein has a 65th street  section in his phone book, which is where Terra-Mar is listed,. The building is a small historic set of luxury apartments.

Calvo-Platero is a daughter of the late Baron Whitney and a descendent of Queen Victoria. She is married to Mario Calvo-Platero. Coben, a former executive of multiple British energy holding companies, is on the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania with Marjorie Margolies.

Despite their close ties, the only place the Epstein-Forester-Maxwell trio were reported by the mainstream press together in public was at a surprise birthday for media mogul and convicted felon Baron Conrad Black in Chicago. Mort Zuckerman and Barbara Walters were also present. So was reputed “secret-swinger” and 1975 Playgirl Centerfold Henry Kissinger. Kissinger is in Epstein's little black book along with Secretary of State John Kerry. Although the latter's listing was when Kerry was presidential candidate. He is joined in that little black book by his then Senate colleague Ted Kennedy.

Perhaps Epstein needs only a little more media muscle to solve his problems. Much has been made of Epstein's associations with powerful lawyers, like OJ defender and torture advocate Alan Dershowitz, but not much has been said of his long standing social connections to those at the apex of the media world like Peter Jennings and Mike Wallace. Perhaps all the Queen's horses and all the presidents men can put humpty Prince Andrew back together – again. The FBI recently moved to keep allegations out of evidence in civil trials against Epstein, but they have either not noticed or not mentioned Epstein's $50,000 contribution to the Palm Beach Police Scholarship Fund after most of the solicitation charges against him were dropped. We shall see how much protection a house full of massage tables, teenagers and security cameras has afford him and his Royal friends in the long term. How many of the right people doing the wrong thing in the wrong photo is Epstein holding?

How far back and how wide afield does the pedophilia sex ring cover-up go? As the 97 pages of Epstein's phone book are cross-referenced with his social history seem to indicate: Far and wide indeed.