'My friends are apoplectic,' complained disgraced socialite Ghislaine Maxwell after Prince Andrew was first accused

Disgraced socialite Ghislaine Maxwell complained her friends were 'apoplectic' after Prince Andrew was first accused of having sex with a 17-year-old girl.

Newly released legal documents reveal Maxwell's panicked email to pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein after explosive claims emerged in January 2015 that Virginia Giuffre was forced to have sex with the duke three times, including at Maxwell's Belgravia mansion.

Days later, Epstein's address and phone books – containing more than 1,700 names and numbers, including some of the world's most powerful figures – were leaked online.

“My friends are apoplectic,” Maxwell wrote in an email to Epstein on January 23, 2015. “You know what Edwards (Ms. Giuffre's lawyer, Brad Edwards) and all want from all this s***? What are they looking for? What's the end game?'

Earlier that month, court documents were filed alleging that a woman, identified only as “Jane Doe 3,” was told to give Prince Andrew “everything he demanded.”

Although Mrs. Giuffre was not initially named, she is believed to be Jane Doe 3.

The Duke of York, Virginia Giuffre and Ghislaine Maxwell

Prince Andrew then issued a statement to The Mail on Sunday in which he “emphatically denied that the Duke of York had any form of sexual contact or relationship with Virginia Roberts (as Ms Giuffre was known before her marriage).”

The files released yesterday show how this turn of events increased pressure on Maxwell to also break her silence.

In a series of emails, Maxwell's lawyer Philip Barden urged her to “shout your innocence” and that “saying nothing is reputation suicide.” He warned her to distance herself from Epstein, who he said was “already roasted.”

“I will speak to Jeffrey Epstein's lawyers, but YOU are conflicted and will want your silence because while you are under attack, there is less pressure on him.”

Photo of pedophile Jeffrey Epstein with his arm around Ghislaine Maxwell, which was recovered along with many other photos during an FBI raid on Epstein's New York Upper East Side mansion in 2019

The emails show that despite this advice, Maxwell continued to contact Epstein, who sent her a draft press statement suggesting she declare that she had “never been a party to any criminal action involving JE.”

The pedophile also suggested that Maxwell complained that she had been the target of “outright lies” and “salacious gossip” and that she would publicly question Ms Giuffre's credibility.

Epstein assured his ex-lover that “this will end now” and urged her to come forward.

'You have done nothing wrong and I would urge you to behave accordingly. Go out with your head held high, not like an escaping convict. Go to parties. Get started with it.'