Why Jeffrey Epstein took suicide-victim son of ‘peace diplomats’ below his wing, lavishing him with money, profession recommendation and a $5million inheritance

He was the son of two prominent Norwegian diplomats and one of the few people named in Jeffrey Epstein‘s will.

But until now, the true extent of Edward Rød-Larsen’s relationship with the disgraced pedophile has remained largely hidden. 

Emails released by the Department of Justice reveal the 25-year-old – who killed himself this week amid a police investigation into his family’s ties to Epstein – received numerous favors from the convicted sex offender, who became like a doting ‘uncle’ to him, the Daily Mail can reveal. 

Among the favors, Epstein arranged work experience at the renowned auction house Christie’s for Edward, the son of former Norwegian ambassador Mona Juul and Terje Rød-Larsen, who ran the UN-affiliated International Peace Institute.

He also taught Edward how to dress, how to speak, even how to get his hair cut in a series of emails where he sounded like a mentor. 

Epstein edited Edward’s application letter to study at NYU and gave his approval as his parents called in favors from their diplomat friends to try to secure him a place.

Edward was so important to Epstein that upon his death in 2019, the pedophile left him $5 million in his will, with another $5 million for his sister Emma.

The combined $10 million was the same Epstein left to Ghislaine Maxwell, his former girlfriend and ‘madam’ who recruited underage girls for him to abuse. Nearly seven years after his death, he money is still tied up in a court proceedings in the US Virgin Islands.

Edward’s family has been under intense pressure since the release of three million files about Epstein by the US Department of Justice earlier this year revealed the full extent of their friendship with the pedophile.

They remained close to him for years, even after he was jailed for having sex with children in 2009 and became a registered sex offender.

Photos released by the DOJ show Terje standing next to Bill Gates and an Epstein victim, and holding up a photo of a woman posing in a bikini on social media.

Juul, 66, was forced to resign as Norway’s ambassador to Jordan and Iraq in February.

Her husband, 78, had already quit running International Peace Institute after admitting he received a $130,000 personal loan from Epstein in 2013.

Both are now being investigated by the financial crime section of the Norwegian police for ‘aggravated corruption’, which they deny.

It is an astonishing fall from grace for a couple who are credited with facilitating the Oslo accords in the mid 1990s which laid the framework for the two-state solution between Israel and Palestine.

Lawyers for Terje and his wife have suggested that the intense publicity over their links to Epstein in recent months may have been a factor in their son’s suicide.

This week they criticized the ‘months of public spotlight that has long since ceased to be critical, and has instead become suspicious, speculative and at times limitless’.

In a statement they said: ‘A spotlight that has not only affected two parents, but has also drawn their children involuntarily into the relentless machinery of the public.’

The files show that Edward would have known of Epstein from at least 2011 when he and his twin sister were aged around 10.

In an email to the pedophile, their father indicated they had just come back from a trip to Little St James, Epstein’s private island in the Caribbean.

‘Thanks for a great day on a wonderful and totally unique place! We all loved it,’ wrote Terje.

He said: ‘Emma and Edward are ecstatic (think the four wheel drives made the strongest impression!)’

By 2016 Edward was studying at the prestigious Stowe School in the UK where fees are $65,000 a year and former pupils include actor Henry Cavill, businessman Sir Richard Branson and Christopher Robin Milne, the inspiration for his father’s classic, Winnie the Pooh.

Epstein sent Edward a gift directly to his school which the pedophile’s staff referred to as an ‘exorbitant amount of money’.

While the contents of the gift are not clear, one email refers to a gold Amex card.

By 2017 Epstein mobilized his network to get Edward work experience and contacted his friend David Stern, who was at the time business advisor to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor – then known as Prince Andrew.

In July of that year, Epstein sent a summary of Edward’s life so far to Stern, who said he needed a CV if he was going to approach Standard Chartered, a British bank.

The following month Edward was in touch with Stern, who appears to have arranged for work experience at the Bank of China.

After Edward shared the good news with Epstein, the pedophile replied: ‘You deserve it’

Epstein kept a close eye on Edward and during his first day at the bank, he complained to Stern that Edward had been left to ‘sit in an office with no one to talk to’, and that Stern should ‘please check ASAP’.

Epstein helped out again in 2018 when Edward wanted some more work experience: this time at Christie’s.

In a letter to a Christie’s executive, Edward formally applied to work at the auction house for a week, noting that he was ‘informed of this possibility by Mr Epstein’.

Edward forwarded his correspondence with Christie’s to Epstein who replied with some parental advice about how to present himself.

In April 2018 Epstein wrote: ‘Proper haircut. Even if short. No likes or ums. Piercings etc. This is an amazing opportunity. Suggest you buzz cut your hair and start again, by July you need to look like a preppy school boy.’

Edward replied: ‘Thank you, I will do that.’

Edward wrote to Epstein at the end of his week at Christie’s, saying it was ‘absolutely great’ and that he wanted to ‘thank you again for this great opportunity’.

Epstein replied: ‘Great happy to hear.’

Edward’s time at Christie’s would prove useful for his biggest challenge so far: applying to study at NYU.

As part of his application, Edward used a letter from Olivia Wallace, a senior executive at Christie’s, who said that he completed the prestigious Chairman’s Program and that he approached it with ‘impressive maturity and enthusiasm’.

Epstein reviewed the drafts of Edward’s application letter to NYU and suggested some changes, the DOJ emails show.

But it wasn’t just Epstein pulling in favors to get Eward into the college: his own parents did the same.

In a January 2019 email, Edward’s father Terje wrote to Rita Hauser, a former chair of the International Peace Institute and senior official in the George W. Bush and Obama administrations, asking for help.

Terje told Hauser, who is a life trustee at NYU’s School of Law, to ‘put in a good word for him (Edward) with NYU’.

Hauser was happy to help and told Edward she would ‘speak to the admissions office and recommend you for early admission’.

After being told about this, Epstein replied: ‘Great.’

Edward’s parents also called in a favor from Lana Nusseibeh, the ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to the United Nations, who wrote a letter to the then NYU President, Andrew Hamilton, backing his application.

The letter states that Edward is a ‘remarkable young man’ who would ‘make a difference in his chosen field of study’.

Edward’s family pulled in favors to help him with another noteworthy week of work experience at London’s Courtauld Institute.

In an email sent in 2018, Edward told Epstein that ‘one of my mother’s friends’ had helped to make it happen.

By the summer of 2019 Edward was on the waitlist for NYU but had not received a confirmed place yet.

In messages released by the DOJ, Edward anxiously told Epstein: ‘My friend just got told he got in.’

But in another message, Edward appeared more relaxed and said: ‘Thank you very much for the lovely dinner last night.

‘And for the good advice.’

An NYU spokesman told the Daily Mail that Edward never studied at the university.

But it is far from the only time Epstein has been linked with NYU.

In January Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, wrote a letter to its administration which said that Epstein paid for one woman who he abused to study there from 2000-2002.

Epstein also donated more than $200,000 in scholarship payments to NYU through one of his charitable organizations.

NYU said in a statement: ‘We are fully committed to cooperating with Representative Raskin’s inquiry. We support efforts to bring transparency to Epstein’s horrific conduct.’

The Daily Mail contacted Edward’s family’s lawyers for comment but they did not respond.

Juul’s lawyer Thomas Skjelbred has said that ‘my client does not recognize the accusations made against her.’