Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor brushed his hand against a 17-year-old’s chest while at Jeffrey Epstein‘s mansion in New York, at a party where girls were treated like ‘pieces of meat’, a woman has claimed.
Caroline Kaufman, now 32, alleges the ‘creepy’ encounter happened just moments before she was then taken upstairs and raped by billionaire paedophile Epstein.
Speaking about her ordeal, which happened in 2010 – apparently during the same visit Andrew made to New York to ‘cut off’ his ties with the disgraced financier – Caroline revealed how dozens of girls had been gathered into the mansion and told to wear eyeliner and the same tight black dress to ‘please’ the former Duke.
The aspiring model said she had been invited to what she thought would be a photoshoot that would enhance her career, but she was instead scuttled towards the party which she described as ‘seedy’ and ‘trashy’.
While other men were in attendance, the girls were told to stand or sit while Andrew made his way around the room while he introduced himself to the women who caught his eye.
Caroline recalled Andrew arrived wearing a black tux. As he greeted her, his hand ‘brushed’ across her chest and he looked at her in a ‘playful’ way.
Speaking to The Sun on Sunday, she said: ‘He asked my age…and when I told him I was 17 he seemed to shy away. He was excited though.
‘It felt like all these girls were there for him to choose from and it was put on for him.’
Caroline Kaufman alleges Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor met her at a party inside Jeffrey Epstein’s mansion and brushed his hand against her chest when she was aged 17
The aspiring model said she had been invited to what she thought would be a photoshoot that would enhance her career, but she was instead scuttled towards the party which she described as ‘seedy’ and ‘trashy’
The party was said to have taken place during the same visit Andrew made to ‘cut off’ tied with Jeffrey Epstein. Pictured: The pair walk together in New York’s Central Park in December 2010
Caroline said she stayed at the gathering for 40 minutes before being taken upstairs and raped by Epstein.
According to her lawsuit, which she filed in 2020, Caroline was ‘recruited’ by one of Epstein’s ‘close associates’, Susan, at a horse show in Lake Placid, New York, when she was 16.
‘[Susan] approached Kaufman to ask her if she was a “model,”‘ the documents said.
‘[Susan] then told Kaufman that her “boss” could help Kaufman get into the modeling industry. During these conversations, Kaufman made clear to Susan that she was only 16 years old at that time.’
Months later Kaufman agreed to visit Epstein’s $56million home on the Upper East Side in around December, after repeated calls from Susan.
While at the mansion she was introduced to several people including Prince Andrew – who was photographed walking around Central Park with Epstein around the same time – according to the suit.
Kaufman claims that during the visit she was taken into a private area and told to undress for an older woman who took photos of her naked. She believes that woman was Ghislaine Maxwell.
After the photoshoot, ‘Maxwell advised Kaufman that her “boss” wanted to meet her,’ the legal filing states.
‘Kaufman then put a bikini back on and was escorted by Maxwell into a massage room. Epstein was nude on the massage table as she entered the room.’
She claims that shortly afterwards she was raped by Epstein.
After the encounter Susan allegedly gave Kaufman $500 in cash and told her: ‘Mr. Epstein is a very powerful man and he knows presidents. If you say anything he will kill you and your family.’
Kaufman suffered ‘extreme distress, humiliation, fear, psychological trauma, loss of dignity and self esteem and invasion of her privacy’ from the assault, the suit states.
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor denies any such misconduct or wrongdoing.
Caroline’s recollection of events come as a new photo emerged of Andrew at what is thought to be Peter Mandelson’s first meeting with Epstein.
The photo, believed to have been taken in the US at the turn of the century, shows a smiling Mandelson and Mr Mountbatten-Windsor sitting barefoot and dressed in bathrobes at a table with Epstein.
The release of the bombshell Epstein files have laid bare the depth of the relationship between the disgraced former Government minister and Epstein, and Epstein and Andrew.
Both men have denied wrongdoing but remain under police investigation for allegedly leaking sensitive information to the paedophile while in public office.
One image, in the files released under the US Epstein Transparency Act, shows Andrew on all fours, leaning over a woman lying on the ground
A sensational new photo emerged on Friday of what is thought to have been Peter Mandelson’s first meeting with Jeffrey Epstein. The former peer and disgraced former prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor were both pictured in bathrobes next to the paedophile financier
The Epstein files were released in January but the sheer quantity means new evidence is still coming to light.
It is not the first time that Mandelson, 72, and Andrew, 66, have appeared in embarrassing photos linked to Epstein, who died by suicide while awaiting a sex-trafficking trial in 2019.
One image, in the files released under the US Epstein Transparency Act, shows Andrew on all fours, leaning over a woman lying on the ground.
Another shows Mandelson, the former business secretary, in his underwear talking to a young woman at the paedophile’s Paris apartment.