\n<\/p>\n
Mandelson was among a host of wealthy and well-connected people to contribute messages to a \u201cbirthday book\u201d when Epstein turned 50, many of them alluding openly to the financier\u2019s lurid social life.<\/p>\n
Mandelson\u2019s lengthy and very personal tribute to a man he called \u201cmy best pal\u201d included a reference to Epstein being \u201cmysterious\u201d, and to his \u201cinteresting\u201d friends, the latter illustrated with a photo of two women, their faces obscured.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
According to the Sun, which said it had seen other messages from court documents, when Epstein was facing prosecution for soliciting sex from a minor, Mandelson emailed him to say: \u201cYour friends stay with you and love you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another reported message, shortly before Epstein was handed a brief jail term, said: \u201cFight for early release.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other messages from Mandelson, the paper said, included him saying he was \u201cfurious\u201d at the legal situation faced by Epstein, adding: \u201cThe whole thing has been years of torture and now you have to show the world how big a person you are, and how strong.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Sun said Mandelson did not dispute the veracity of the messages.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
In a tranche of emails between Epstein and Jes Staley \u2013 at the time a senior executive with JP Morgan, the bank which had a long and close business relationship with Epstein \u2013 Mandelson\u2019s name crops up frequently, sometimes by the diminutive \u201cPetie\u201d. The emails were detailed in the court document.<\/p>\n
In June 2009, when Mandelson was Gordon Brown\u2019s de facto deputy PM, Epstein wrote to Staley that \u201cPeter will be staying at 71st over weekend\u201d, a reference to Epstein\u2019s vast Manhattan townhouse on East 71st Street. He suggests Staley tries to join them.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
Three months after Staley seeks Epstein\u2019s help to meet Mandelson, he emails the financier to say he \u201csaw Peter last night\u201d. He adds \u201cDarling in 20 minutes\u201d, a seeming reference to Alistair Darling, Brown\u2019s chancellor.<\/p>\n
Later the same day, Epstein replies to ask, \u201cwas Petie helpful?\u201d, as the pair seemingly discuss efforts by JP Morgan to purchase Royal Bank of Scotland\u2019s energy trading arm, Sempra.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
Epstein emails Staley to say: \u201cPetie\u2019s quitting.\u201d This appears to be a reference to Mandelson no longer being a minister after Labour lost the election five days earlier, after which there was an impasse before the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition took power.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
Epstein emails Staley to ask about his schedule while on a trip to London, writing: \u201cWhat days will you be there? Do you have time for the Prince Andrew and\/or Peter?\u201d<\/p>\n
Ten days later, Mandelson emails Epstein to forward him details of an event he is addressing in Shanghai, suggesting that JP Morgan should be represented \u201cif they want to spread their wings in China?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
After a message from Mandelson to Staley about a visit to the Republic of the Congo, and possible JP Morgan opportunities there, Epstein and Staley then discuss other possible business opportunities for the former minister.<\/p>\n
Then in November, Epstein tells Staley: \u201cPetie and others in Paris this weekend\u201d, suggesting a time for Staley to join them.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
1. 2003 \u2013 the Epstein birthday book Mandelson was among a host of wealthy and well-connected people to contribute messages to a \u201cbirthday book\u201d when Epstein turned 50, many of them alluding openly to the financier\u2019s lurid social life. Mandelson\u2019s lengthy and very personal tribute to a man he called \u201cmy best pal\u201d included a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20367,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[818,1083,3703,3695,2813,12524,1994,1081],"class_list":{"0":"post-20366","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics","8":"tag-bond","9":"tag-close","10":"tag-epstein","11":"tag-mandelson","12":"tag-messages","13":"tag-pal","14":"tag-peter","15":"tag-suggest"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20366"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20366\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}