Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly Prince Andrew, was arrested this morning on suspicion of misconduct in public office – amidst ongoing public speculation over his connection to the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
An arrest was made at Sandringham Estate this morning by Thames Valley Police following investigations into allegations of misconduct in public office and allegations that a second woman was sent to the UK by Jeffrey Epstein for a sexual encounter with Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, per reporting by Lucy Manning for BBC News. The arrest comes on the day of Mountbatten-Windsor's 66th birthday and is understood to pertain only to the allegation of misconduct in public office. Mountbatten-Windsor has always strenuously denied any wrongdoing.
His arrest comes after weeks of controversy following the release of the so-called ‘Epstein files’, which were partially released on 30 January. Around 3.5 million files, containing emails, images, and videos, were released into the public domain, resulting in Mountbatten-Windsor and ex-US Ambassador Peter Mandelson (to name a few) facing heavy scrutiny.
But what is actually happening here? What does it all mean for the predatory dynasty of the deceased criminal? Are we any closer to seeing justice? When did it all start? And will it ever, ever end?
We’re feeling the same way. It’s hard to keep track of the chaos, confusion and corruption that have marked every stage of this ongoing scandal. So, here’s our timeline breakdown of this interminable story — and what’s coming next.
Lucia Osborne-Crowley reported on Ghislaine Maxwell's trial for helping Jeffrey Epstein abuse women and girls. Her new book unapologetically focuses on the survivors.
Jeffrey Epstein, born and raised in New York, worked as a maths and physics teacher at a private school in the mid 70s.
A connection through a student’s father led to a four-year partnership at the Wall Street investment bank Bear Stearns. In 1982, he created his own firm, J Epstein and Co, managing assets worth more than $1 billion (£800 million).
He spends his millions on global real estate and building connections with celebrities, politicians and businessmen. Donald Trump told New York Mag in 2002: “I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy. He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.” The President later said that they fell out in the early 2000s.
Epstein also befriends the likes of Bill Clinton, Kevin Spacey and Christ Tucker, with whom he flew to Africa on a customised private jet in 2002. Another now well-known friend of his was UK politician Lord Peter Mandelson — a friendship that cost Mandelson his job as US ambassador in 2025. He has since resigned from the Labour Party.
A lawyer for the convicted sex offender recently said, “It’s all about men abusing women for a long period of time … and it’s only one person in jail – a woman.”
March 2005: A 14-year-old girl’s family reports she was molested at Jeffrey Epstein’s mansion. Later, multiple teenage girls and young women, many of them high school students, tell police that Epstein hired them to give him massages while semi or fully nude and molested them.
Although Palm Beach police feel they have a strong case, the prosecutor disagrees, claiming Epstein’s attorneys will attack the victims’ credibility and a conviction is unlikely.
May 2006: Over a year later, Palm Beach police officials sign paperwork to charge Epstein with several counts of unlawful sex with persons under the age of consent. Instead, the county’s top prosecutor, Barry Krischer, sends the case to a grand jury.
July 2006: The grand jury indicts Epstein on a single count of soliciting prostitution, clearing him of charges of unlawful sex with minors for the time being.
The Palm Beach Police Department’s chief and lead detective on the case refers it to a nearby FBI office, saying the charge doesn’t meet “the totality of Epstein’s conduct,” according to the Justice Department’s review of the case. FBI begins its own investigation. Prosecutors later say Epstein’s abuses began as early as 2002.
May 2007: An assistant US attorney whose been working with FBI agents to find more victims submits a draft indictment with 60 criminal counts against Epstein.
July 2007: Epstein’s lawyers spend a year talking with US Attorney Alexander Acosta — who is later appointed Labor Secretary by Donald Trump — about a plea bargain. Epstein wants to avoid federal prosecutions, and his lawyers dismiss his accusers as untrustworthy witnesses.
Acosta’s office offers to end the investigation if Epstein pleads guilty to two felony prostitution charges, accepts a prison term, registers as a sexual offender and sets up a way for his victims to obtain monetary damages.
Beneath the surface of this deal was a secret deal, a non-prosecution agreement, or NPA. This means the federal prosecutors' office gave immunity to Epstein, four co-conspirators and any potential co-conspirators. It also seals the record so no one can know the full scope of Epstein’s crimes. Prosecutors also agree not to tell the victims about the NPA.
Vox would later argue that an FBI document based on its investigation was strong enough to have put Epstein behind bars for life instead. Acosta resigned in July 2019 over the scandal. In 2025, Acosta testified before the House oversight committee that going to trial would have been a “crapshoot”, arguing that had the case gone to trial and the government had lost, “that says that he got away with it, that you can do that more. And so we thought it was very, very important to send that signal, and that’s why … that’s one reason we favored the negotiated plea.”
A better world is possible.
June 2008: Epstein pleads guilty to one count of soliciting prostitution and one count of soliciting prostitution from someone under the age of 18. He receives an 18-month jail sentence. He is also listed as a level three sex offender in New York, a lifelong designation that means he was considered likely to reoffend.
But in another plushy arrangement, Epstein is permitted to serve his sentence in a work-release programme, which allows him to leave jail for 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, to go to his office. By the end of his time in prison, Epstein was allegedly staying in his office 18 hours a day, six days a week, spending just six hours a day in actual prison.
July 7 2009: Epstein is released from prison after serving 13 months of his 18-month sentence. He is placed on a house arrest sentence until August 2010.
September 2009: Two years after the controversial non-prosecution agreement, a Florida judge orders that the document giving Epstein federal immunity be made public, a response to multiple lawsuits from victims and news outlets.
Over the next decade, multiple women fight to hold Epstein and others liable for the abuse they suffered. All of the men deny the allegations.
Epstein settled multiple civil lawsuits brought against him by victims in 2010.
December 2010: The infamous photos of Andrew Mountbatten Windsor and Jeffrey Epstein were taken in New York’s Central Park. Andrew later claims in a November 2019 interview that he’d only visited Epstein to break off their friendship. However, emails from 2011 show the pair still in contact. Andrew was stripped of his royal titles in 2025.
Justice delayed is justice denied.
The convicted predator embarks on a public relations mission to restore his reputation. In 2011, Epstein told the New York Post, “I’m not a sexual predator, I’m an offender. It’s the difference between a murderer and a person who steals a bagel.”
His foundation donates millions to scientific research, cancer research and other causes.
2015: Virginia Roberts, now known as Virginia Giuffre, sues Ghislaine Maxwell for defamation after she called her a liar for her accusations of sexual conspiracy. Giuffre says she was pressured by Epstein to have sex with then-Prince Andrew Mountbatten Windsor and celebrity lawyer Alan Dershowitz. She says Epstein groomed her from the age of 15. Andrew Mountbatten strongly denies the allegations. Giuffre later dropped her allegations against Dershowitz in 2022, saying that she "may have made a mistake in identifying” him. She died by suicide in 2025.
2017: Maxwell settles. In 2022, Andrew settled a lawsuit with Giuffre for millions, though he has always denied any wrongdoing.
2018: The Miami Herald publishes multiple investigations on Epstein’s history of alleged sexual abuse, which is described as “Epstein’s sexual pyramid scheme”. They also re-examine Acosta’s role in Epstein’s luxurious plea deal.
In tandem with the #MeToo explosion, Epstein’s crimes draw widespread attention as wider conversations about the sexual improprieties of powerful men dominate public conversation.
July 6 2019: Epstein is arrested by federal agents at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey after flying in on his private jet from Paris. Epstein is charged with federal sex trafficking charges after federal prosecutors determined that they aren’t bound by Acosta’s non-prosecution deal.
Epstein pleads not guilty but faces 45 years in prison if convicted.
After being denied bail, it becomes clear that Epstein will spend at least a year in prison waiting for his trial. It was expected to start in summer 2020 at the earliest.
On August 10, 2019, Jeffrey Epstein is found dead in his prison cell. His death is ruled a suicide.
Later, on August 27, US district judge Richard M Berman holds a hearing to dismiss the indictment against Epstein, but in a groundbreaking move, he allows victims to give their testimony. Many women, both named and anonymous, take the chance to speak.
Courtney Wild, who was amongst those who started the first case against him over ten years earlier, said: “Jeffrey Epstein sexually abused me for years, robbing me of my innocence and mental health. Jeffrey Epstein has done nothing but manipulate our justice system, where he has never been held accountable for his actions, even to this day.”
Following Epstein’s death, the focus moved to his former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell. After being arrested in July 2020, a New York City jury found her guilty of five charges in December 2021, including the sex trafficking of a minor. Maxwell is sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Though Maxwell’s defence claims she was scapegoated after Epstein’s death, prosecutors said she preyed on and groomed girls for Epstein to abuse.
A lawyer for the convicted sex offender recently said, “It’s all about men abusing women for a long period of time … and it’s only one person in jail – a woman.”
After several decades of chaos and ineptitude, critics’ calls for the release of the various Epstein files are heeded. Both chambers of the US Congress approve the Epstein Files Transparency Act in November 2025.
The bill ordered the Justice Department to release all its files from criminal investigations that took place into Epstein by 19 December 2025.
Some, but not all, are published by the deadline. There have been multiple releases over the following weeks, revealing Epstein’s ties with everyone from Vladimir Putin to Noam Chomsky. Being named in the files does not indicate any wrongdoing.
Another drop of about 3.5 million files was released on January 30 2026. The myriad of microscandals is still unfolding.
The files reveal that Epstein’s lawyers met with prosecutors to discuss his potential cooperation days before his death. No doubt something that will stir up internet conspiracy theorists who believe that his death was staged.
Another document shows that FBI officials compiled more than a dozen tips involving Trump and Epstein last summer. It’s unclear why the summary was put together, and no corroborating evidence was included. The Department of Justice has vehemently claimed that the summary is unfounded and false
Emails from the latest drop show Elon Musk and Epstein discussing unrealised plans for Musk to visit Epstein’s private island. Musk has since reiterated that he declined multiple visits to the island.
More emails between Andrew and Epstein also show the ex-Prince inviting Epstein to meet at Buckingham Palace after his release from house arrest in 2010. While it’s unclear if the meeting took place, the documents also show Epstein offering to arrange for Mountbatten-Windsor to have dinner with a 26-year-old Russian woman — Andrew said he’d be “delighted”. He has always denied any wrongdoing.
And finally, Peter Mandelson’s troubles aren’t over. Bank records show that Epstein’s JP Morgan account made three separate $25,000 payments referencing Mandelson. Separate documents also indicate Epstein sent thousands to Mandelson’s husband after Epstein was released from prison in 2009. Mandelson says he has no record or recollection of receiving these sums. He resigned from the Labour Party on Sunday.
No one knows what’s coming around the corner with this scandal. We don’t know if all the files have been released yet or if there is more to come.
What is clear is that Jeffrey Epstein was guilty, as was Ghislaine Maxwell. However, we might never know who else was involved and to what extent. Most of Epstein’s victims will never see justice in civil or criminal court. We may never know how many there were or if they’re safe now.
Though some are tiring of the Epstein saga, it’s essential that we pay attention. Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes are a small window into the unknown scale of high-profile abuse enacted by supremely powerful men. It may be the only window we get unless another Harvey Weinstein giant is taken down.
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