Andy gave Maxwell ‘stamp of approval’
NEW YORK: Prince Andrew helped disgraced British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell hustle her way into New York high society by giving her the “stamp of approval”, according to Maxwell’s former friends.
Helen Kirwan-Taylor, who says she was in Maxwell’s “little black book”, said her royal connection gave her immediate entree to New York’s elite social and business circles.
Ms Kirwan-Taylor said the rest of Maxwell’s family had “hid away in shame” after the 1991 death of her father, newspaper baron Robert Maxwell, who was accused of stealing millions from his employees’ superannuation funds.
But as the “Maxwell empire crumbled”, Ghislaine “teleported herself to New York” and mingled with the “most connected people in Manhattan”, Ms Kirwan-Taylor said.
“Not only was she mixing with the very rich, but she seemed to be right in the middle of the action,” she said.
Ms Kirwan-Taylor said she made it into the contacts book that Maxwell curated for billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein after catching Maxwell’s attention while working as an assistant producer for 60 Minutes – a role that granted her access to “presidents and prime ministers”.
“The question is, how did someone whose father had robbed pensioners and who died in mysterious circumstances manage to break into the wealthiest circles of Manhattan?” she said.
According to the New York Post, it came down to her wellknown close ties to the Duke of York, one of Maxwell’s Manhattan society friends told the paper.
“Ghislaine came over with the stamp of approval from Prince Andrew,” they said.