Prince Andrew sex allegations: Billionaire Jeffrey Epstein 'had 21 phone numbers' for Bill Clinton

Court documents claim Epstein's computer also contained former president email addresses

Bill Clinton (Reuters)

Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender at the centre of a scandal that has seen allegations levelled at Prince Andrew that he had sex with an teenager, possessed up to 21 phone numbers for former President Bill Clinton stored in his computer, it has been claimed.

Epstein’s relationship with Mr Clinton has been previously reported on and it is known that between 2002-2005 he flew on the financier’s private jet on numerous occasions, both on charitable endeavours to places such as Africa, as well as to Epstein’s private Caribbean island, Little St James. It would later be alleged in court that Epstein organised orgies on that same private island in the US Virgin Islands.

Mr Clinton has faced no allegations over the events on the Caribbean island and in Florida, where police investigated claims that Epstein paid underage girls for sex. In 2008, Epstein, 61, pleaded guilty to a single charge of soliciting prostitution and was handed an 18-month jail sentence.

He served 13 months in jail and was obliged to register as a sex offender. There are claims, denied by Buckingham Palace, that Prince Andrew lobbied for him to be treated leniently. A 2011 report in the New York Post said that he celebrated his release from jail and his return to a property he maintains in New York – a 45,000-sq-foot eight-storey mansion on East 71st Street – with the Prince.

A detail contained in court documents obtained by The Smoking Gun website suggest that at some point Mr Clinton and Epstein may have been in regular contact.

As part of a civil suit filed against Epstein by several of his victims, lawyers for the women floated the possibility of subpoenaing Mr Clinton since he “might well be a source of relevant information” about Epstein’s activities.

While Mr Clinton was never deposed, lawyers obtained Epstein’s computerised phone directory, which included “e-mail addresses for Clinton along with 21 phone numbers for him, including those for his assistant, Doug Band. The document says Epstein had Clinton’s personal numbers as well as his email, raising the prospect that “Clinton might well be a source of relevant information”.

Reports say it appears many of the A-list celebrities with whom the New York born Epstein had associated broke off contact with him after his conviction. The court documents say it appeared Mr Clinton suddenly stopped flying with him.

Among those who did not was Prince Andrew. He was photographed walking in New York’s Central Park with Epstein in February 2011. In June 2011, Prince Andrew steps down as UK trade envoy amid controversy over his relationship with Epstein, who paid £15,000 to Sarah Ferguson to reduce some of her debts.

Buckingham Palace has issued a series of denials that the Prince slept with then teenager Virginia Roberts on three occasions between 1999 and 2002.

American billionaire Epstein, a convicted sex offender whose friendship with Prince Andrew has long been a source of controversy, has been accused in a US civil lawsuit of running a sex trafficking ring for rich and powerful men — including the Prince, according to court papers filed on behalf of “Jane Doe 3”, who has been named as Ms Roberts.

The court documents in the US legal action relating to Epstein, in which the Duke of York has been named but not as a party to the action, allege that the then 17-year old Roberts was forced by Epstein to have sex with Prince Andrew on three occasions — in London, New York and as part of an orgy on Epstein's private Caribbean island.