Former Prince Andrew arrested. Bill Gates cancels speech. The Epstein walls are closing in

From the arrest of a former royal to billionaires, diplomats, and academics stepping away from public roles, here are the most significant figures facing fallout.

Prince Andrew

British police on Thursday arrested the king’s younger brother, former Prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, on suspicion of “misconduct in public office.” Authorities said they carried out searches at properties in Berkshire and Norfolk, an escalation from what had previously been described as a review of claims arising from the latest tranche of Epstein-related documents released by the DOJ.

Andrew has long faced allegations tied to his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, most notably from Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein’s most outspoken accusers, who died by suicide last April. In her posthumously published memoir, Giuffre alleged she was trafficked to have sex with Mountbatten-Windsor when she was 17. “He believed having sex with me was his birthright,” she wrote, recalling that afterward Ghislaine Maxwell allegedly told her, “You did well. The prince had fun.” Andrew has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and previously reached a civil settlement with Giuffre without admitting liability.

But the current arrest is not centered on those allegations. Instead, investigators are examining whether Andrew improperly shared sensitive government material during his tenure as the British trade envoy. Emails released by the U.S. Justice Department appear to show him forwarding confidential trip reports and investment briefs to Epstein soon after receiving them. King Charles has signaled that there will be no royal intervention, saying, “The law must take its course.”

Bill Gates

Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates abruptly withdrew from a keynote appearance at India’s high-profile AI Impact Summit just hours before he was set to speak, citing a desire to “ensure the focus remains” on the summit itself.

The latest DOJ tranche includes emails and communications showing that Gates met with Epstein multiple times between 2011 and 2014, several years after Epstein’s Florida conviction. The two discussed philanthropy, including a proposed fund that would have pooled money from Gates and other billionaires to support global health initiatives. That plan ultimately collapsed, and Gates has said he cut off contact after concluding Epstein’s ideas were a “dead end.”

The document release also includes a series of inflammatory claims—including allegations about Gates’ extramarital conduct with “married women” and drug use—that appear in emails Epstein sent to himself. Gates, through the Gates Foundation, has categorically denied those accusations, calling them “absolutely absurd and completely false.” No documents released to date allege that Gates was involved in Epstein’s criminal activity or had knowledge of sex trafficking.

Peter Mandelson

Peter Mandelson’s Epstein exposure, like the Prince’s arrest, has triggered a political fallout in Britain. The former British ambassador to the United States lost his diplomatic post, resigned from the Labour party and stepped down from the House of Lords after details of his buddy-buddy relationship with Epstein became clearer after the release of the files. 

The DOJ tranche revealed that contact between the two continued for years after the financier’s 2008 prison term, with Mandelson referring to Epstein’s release as “liberation day.”

Like Prince Andrew, London’s Metropolitan Police have opened a criminal investigation into whether Mandelson improperly shared confidential government information with Epstein. 

Larry Summers

Larry Summers, former U.S. Treasury Secretary and Harvard president, stepped back from multiple public roles after the newly released emails showed he continued communicating with Epstein after the late financier faced sex trafficking charges, often asking him for advice on romantic relationships.

A 2019 email to Epstein showed Summers discussing interactions he had with a woman, writing that “I said what are you up to. She said ‘I’m busy’. I said awfully coy u are.”

Epstein  replied, “you reacted well.. annoyed shows caring. , no whining showed strength.”

Summers resigned from the board of OpenAI and took leave from Harvard while the university reviewed the ties. He also stepped down from positions at think tanks and saw his contract as a contributing writer at The New York Times end. 

Kathryn Ruemmler

Kathryn Ruemmler stepped down as lead counsel of Goldman Sachs last week after the Epstein emails showed she shared nonpublic White House communications with the disgraced financier.

The emails indicate that Ruemmler, who served as White House counsel under President Barack Obama, forwarded Epstein’s internal material related to the administration’s handling of the 2012 Secret Service prostitution scandal, asking for his input in communicating with reporters. She wasn’t in government at the time, but was still managing the fallout.

Her spokesperson said she “has done nothing wrong” and emphasized that, knowing what she knows now, she would not have interacted with Epstein.

Joichi Ito 

Joichi Ito’s resignation as director of MIT’s Media Lab served as an early template for the fallout that has since resurfaced across institutions. In 2019, Ito admitted to concealing financial ties to Epstein and stepped down amid backlash over how donations were handled and characterized.

He resigned from multiple boards and academic posts, setting an early standard for accountability in elite academic circles. 

Thomas Pritzker

Thomas Pritzker announced on Feb. 16 that he would retire as executive chairman of Hyatt Hotels Corporation, acknowledging what he described as “terrible judgment” in maintaining ties to Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.

The latest Justice Department files detail years of cordial correspondence between Pritzker, Epstein, and Maxwell after Epstein’s 2008 conviction. In one message, Pritzker wrote to Epstein about a meeting at the Louvre, a Paris art museum.

Casey Wasserman

Casey Wasserman announced on Feb. 13 that he has begun the process of selling his talent agency after his name surfaced in the latest Epstein files, triggering defections from high-profile clients like singer Chappell Roan.  

The Justice Department documents show that Wasserman flew on Epstein’s private jet at least once, alongside a group that included former President Bill Clinton. The files also contain flirtatious emails exchanged between Wasserman and Maxwell in 2003. In a memo to staff announcing the sale, Wasserman said he regretted that the message had become “a distraction.”

Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem

Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem was replaced as chairman and CEO of Dubai-based logistics giant DP World on Feb. 13 after emails between him and Epstein surfaced, showing a close relationship. DP World, owned by Dubai’s royal family, operates one of the world’s largest port and logistics networks, including Jebel Ali, the Middle East’s busiest port.

The newly released emails show Epstein describing bin Sulayem as a “close personal friend” in a 2010 message, and they often talked about women.