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It’s Time to Talk about Canada’s Links to Epstein

Records reveal a web of relationships that endured after his conviction

Last month, Prime Minister Mark Carney called for the removal of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor—formerly known as Prince Andrew—from the line of succession.

Epstein’s web of relationships included ties to prominent, powerful, and wealthy Canadians

Some connections were solely interested in business opportunities, ignoring Epstein’s disturbing and illegal dealings

Canada’s homegrown cases of predation demonstrate how the elite protect each other from consequences

Mountbatten-Windsor had been arrested in the United Kingdom amid mounting scrutiny of his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier who operated, according to prosecutors and investigators, as a kind of ultra high-end pimp. Court filings and investigative reporting indicate Epstein not only sought out sexual encounters for himself but traded access to underage girls in exchange for connections, favours, and patronage.

But Canada could have spoken out about Mountbatten-Windsor long ago. His ties to Epstein had been a global scandal for years. Virginia Giuffre’s allegation that she had been trafficked to the prince as a teen first emerged in Florida court documents in 2014. By 2022, the Queen had stripped Mountbatten-Windsor of various titles.

It’s worth asking why we didn’t. Why didn’t we act when the right path was clear but not quite so easy? The question is not merely about reputational risk to the Canadian Crown. Epstein’s world-spanning web of financial, political, and academic elite included other Canadians too. Why did they, like so many others around the world, continue to be active parts of his transnational network—years after his crimes were no longer a secret?

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Epstein lived a life defined by connections. After starting as a math and physics teacher at a private school in Manhattan, he leveraged a relationship with a pupil’s parent into a job at the investment bank Bear Sterns. He eventually launched his own investment firm in 1982. By the 1990s, he had carved out an unusual niche: part financial adviser, part social broker, part fixer.

The earliest allegations surfaced—and were discounted—in the 1990s. By 2005, he was under investigation in Florida for soliciting sex acts from minors. Federal investigations sought charges related to dozens of women as young as fourteen. In 2007, Epstein negotiated a “sweetheart” plea deal in which he pleaded guilty to lesser prostitution........

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