Sarah Ferguson invited a Turkish banker accused of stealing £40million to Prince Andrew’s Royal Lodge.
The York family received payments totalling £1.4million from Selman Turk who allegedly stole from a Turkish Heiress.
When the payments were made to the York family in 2019, the duchess wrote to Turk saying that she wanted to “honour” him with a dinner at the Royal Lodge.
Prince Andrew has lived inside the 30-room mansion Royal Lodge in Windsor Park for nearly 20 years.
The York family received £1.4 million from Selman Turk
Getty
The Duchess of York still lives with her ex-husband, Andrew, despite officially divorcing in 1996 after separating in 1992.
In the correspondence, the duchess praised the “kind and supportive” banker who gave money to Ferguson, Prince Andrew and their daughters Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice.
Ferguson wrote in 2019: “You have been incredibly kind and supportive and I wish to honour your support and care. Would you be so kind to help and I would be delighted to invite you and Mrs Turk to dinner at Royal Lodge.”
The document came to light as Turk was found guilty of contempt in court after concealing details of a string of payments. He also faces possible jail time.
Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson divorced in 1996GettyTurk is accused of stealing over £40 million from Nebahat Evyap Isbilen, 77, after she hired him to help transfer her assets out of Turkey.
The Yorks have not been accused of any wrongdoing as there is no indication that they were aware the money was stolen.
Isbilen alleges that Turk tricked her into sending one payment of £750,000 to Prince Andrew after claiming the duke had helped her secure a passport.
The duke paid the money back once Isbilen’s lawyers wrote to him when court proceedings first began.
The Duke and Duchess of York have not been accused of any wrongdoing
GettyTurk defended the payment claiming it was a “gift to the Duke of York on his daughter’s wedding” that he arranged under Isbilen’s instructions.
The York Family were paid unexplained instalments of £350,000 to the duke, £225,000 to the duchess and £25,000 to Princess Eugenie.
The court also heard that in December 2019 Prince Andrew was paid £170,000 over the course of a week from Alphabet, a company based in London which has connections to Turk. Another invoice showed a payment of £212,676.
It is not known what the nature of the relationship between the Yorks and Turk is or why the banker gave them the money.
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Prince Andrew has lived at the Royal Lodge for almost 20 years
GettyThe Yorks will now be kept out of the case as they have reached a private settlement with Isbilen.
High Court judge Sir Anthony Mann said that the private settlement must be “treated with caution” as there was something “odd” about the payments.
His written judgement said: “There is no doubt that there was some sort of relationship. In his cross-examination Mr Turk claimed to have visited them 20 or 30 times (reduced slightly in a later answer).
“Mr Turk was sure that he had met the Duchess many times before this email but was unable to explain why, if that was the case, the Duchess felt the need to introduce herself in that manner. The nature of the “support” was not investigated before me.”