Sarah Ferguson’s charity has closed only days after it emerged she had kept up a friendship with convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Sarah’s Trust said: ‘Our chair, Sarah Ferguson and the board of trustees have agreed that with regret, the charity will shortly close for the foreseeable future.’
‘This has been under discussion and in train for some months.’
The charity, launched in 2020, added that staff helped vulnerable people during the coronavirus pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war.
The revelations came from the latest batch of the Epstein files, which included compromising photos of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
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Ferguson remained in contact with Epstein even after he was registered as a sex offender and was sentenced to jail in 2008 for soliciting prostitution of a minor, the files suggest.
‘I am at your service’
One email dated September 2009 shows Epstein discussing how the former Duchess of York needed ‘four apts during her stay in [New York]’.
Other messages suggest Epstein paid for flights for her and her children, Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice, and also paid off her debts.
They also discussed Ferguson’s brand deals, according to the documents released by the US Department of Justice on Friday.
One email from ‘Sarah’ read: ‘Thank you, Jeffrey, for being the brother I have always wished for.’
A 2010 email, seemingly from Ferguson, refers to Epstein as ‘a legend,’ adding: ‘Xx I am at your service . Just marry me.’
That same year, Ferguson invited Epstein to her 50th birthday party at St James’s Palace in February 2010.
Some exchanges are from an email sender named ‘Ferg,’ in which the user asks Epstein to hire her.
The businessman, who died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, replies: ‘I will never let you down.’
‘Ferg’ replies: ‘Nor I you.. And bever will. My friendship is steadfast to the end, even after the body is cold ..’
Ferguson admitted in 2011 that Epstein covered her debts and apologized for her ‘terrible error in judgment’ in ‘having anything to do with Jeffrey Epstein’.
She added: ‘I abhor paedophilia and any sexual abuse of children. It was a gigantic error of judgment.’
Being named in the Epstein files is not a sign of wrongdoing.
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