Diplomat resigns after report Epstein left her children $10m in will

Her contact with the sex offender showed ‘a serious lapse in judgement’, foreign minister says

A Norwegian ambassador has resigned following reports that Jeffrey Epstein left her children $10 million in his will.

The country’s Foreign Ministry announced Mona Juul’s resignation on Sunday evening, just days after she was suspended as Norway’s ambassador to Jordan.

Foreign Minister Espen Barthe Eide said that Ms Juul’s decision was “correct and necessary”.

Her contact with the sex offender showed a “serious lapse in judgement” and the case “makes it difficult to restore the trust that the role requires”, he said.

A ministry investigation into Ms Juul's knowledge of and contact with Epstein will continue, Mr Eide said, and Ms Juul will continue discussions with the ministry “so that the matter can be clarified”.

The ministry said it had also launched a review of its funding of and contact with the International Peace Institute, a New York-based think tank, during the period when it was headed by Ms Juul’s husband Terje Rød-Larsen.

(Reuters)

Mr Eide said Mr Rød-Larsen also had shown poor judgment regarding Epstein.

Mr Rød-Larsen and Ms Juul were among those involved in facilitating the landmark Oslo Accords aimed at resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the 1990s.

Ms Juul acknowledged in a statement to Norwegian news agency NTB last week that it had been “imprecise” to describe her contact with Epstein as minimal, but said that the contact originated in her husband's relationship with Epstein and she had no independent social or professional relationship with him.

She wrote that her contact with Epstein had been sporadic and private, not part of her official duties, but acknowledged that she should have been much more careful.

Jeffrey Epstein was found dead in his jail cell in August 2019 (PA Media)

The latest batch of Epstein files has cast an unflattering spotlight on several prominent Norwegian figures.

Crown Princess Mette-Marit on Friday issued an apology “to all of you whom I have disappointed" after documents offered more details of her relationship with Epstein.

The country’s economic crimes unit has opened a corruption investigation into former prime minister Thorbjørn Jagland — who also once headed the committee that hands out the Nobel Peace Prize — over his ties with Epstein.

His lawyer said Mr Jagland would cooperate.