Newly-released emails show how Sarah Ferguson pleaded with Jeffrey Epstein to help pay off her £5m debts.
The emails suggest the former duchess of York may have misled the public by claiming that she had not personally contacted Epstein for financial help following his conviction for soliciting prostitution from a minor in 2008.
Ferguson apologised publicly in a March 2011 interview after it emerged she had accepted around £15,000 from the sex offender, saying: “I personally, on behalf of myself, deeply regret that Jeffrey Epstein became involved in any way with me.”
In the former duchess’s interview with the Evening Standard, it was reported that she and the financier did not speak directly to arrange the payment, but emails released as part of the Epstein files appear to contradict the claim.
The documents show how Epstein was called upon to help resolve a debt owed to John O’Sullivan, a former assistant of Ferguson, in November 2010.
‘I know, she called me yesterday’
Among Ferguson’s £5m debts, almost £80,000 in unpaid wages and cash loans was owed to O’Sullivan.
Emails suggest she owed money to multiple creditors and was trying to restructure those debts through a creditor agreement, under which everyone would accept less than they were owed. The deal only worked if all creditors agreed.
Because O’Sullivan’s consent was seemingly essential, discussions followed about arranging the transfer of a lump sum to him through Epstein so Ferguson would avoid bankruptcy.
Epstein appears to tell a confidant that Ferguson called him directly to discuss the debt (Photo: US Dept of Justice)In November 2010, an email exchange occured between Epstein and David Stern, an aide to the then prince Andrew. The messages include a newspaper article about Ferguson’s debts, which included reference to the money owed to her former assistant.
The men discuss the article in the email and refer O’Sullivan by his apparent nickname, “Johnny”. Epstein writes: “She called me yesterday.. johnny. blah blha [sic].”
‘How can I thank you enough?’
In a second email chain in January 2011, “Sarah” writes: “My dear dear friend Jeffrey. How can i thank you enough?”.
She adds: “Sometimes the heart speaks better than the words. You have my heart. Your friend always.”
The email was written on 22 January, 11 days after a separate email suggests Epstein had agreed to pay $25,000 to O’Sullivan.
An email in the files appears to show Ferguson thanking Epstein (Photo: US Dept of Justice)‘I am embarrassed and sorry to ask you’
However, a third email thread, the following month, shows an ongoing disagreement with O’Sullivan over the debt.
The former assistant had reached out for help through a Palace private secretary, asking, “Is there anything that you, the Duke or the Duchess can do to speed things along?”, before signing off “Johnny.”
A user with the name “Sarah”, thought to be the former duchess, forwards this email to Epstein on 9 February 2011.
An email from O’Sullivan was forwarded to Epstein with a plea for help in resolving the debt (Photo: US Dept of Justice)She writes: “I am embarrassed and sorry to ask you, as it is such a favour. What shall we do?”
Epstein responds to her, “I need to speak to Andrew, don’t worry.”
‘I must humbly apologise’
Ferguson was later forced to message Epstein with a grovelling apology after publicly disowning him in the Evening Standard interview.
She told the newspaper: “I am just so contrite I cannot say. Whenever I can I will repay the money and will have nothing ever to do with Jeffrey Epstein ever again.”
However, it appears Ferguson later apologised in an email, dated 27 April 2011, to her “dear friend” for publicly disowning him in the interview and calling him a paedophile in the national press.
A lengthy apology appears to have been sent by the former duchess following the publication of her interview (Photo: US Dept of Justice)She wrote to Epstein from an email address referencing her famously red hair, saying: “I know you feel hellaciously let down by me from what you were either told or read and I must humbly apologise to you and your heart for that.”
Ferguson did not reply to a request to comment. In September 2025, after it emerged that she had carried on speaking to Epstein after the 2011 interview, her spokesperson told the Mail on Sunday: “The Duchess spoke of her regret about her association with Epstein many years ago, and as they have always been, her first thoughts are with his victims.
“Like many people, she was taken in by his lies.”
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