Duchess of York in alleged cash-for-access sting
By REUTERS
LONDON: Britain's News of the World newspaper said on Sunday it had caught the Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson in a sting, filming her allegedly offering to sell access to her former husband and UK trade envoy Prince Andrew.
LONDON: Britain's News of the World newspaper said on Sunday it had caught the Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson in a sting, filming her allegedly offering to sell access to her former husband and UK trade envoy Prince Andrew.
According to the footage on the tabloid's website published on Sunday, Ferguson appears to ask for $40,000 in cash followed by £500,000 ($718,500) as a wire transfer, claiming she could introduce the undercover reporter to the prince.
Neither Ferguson nor Buckingham Palace was available to comment on the footage.
The News of the World said the prince, the second son of Queen Elizabeth and fourth in line to the throne, knew nothing of Ferguson's claims.
And in the tape Ferguson makes it clear that her former husband "never does accept a penny for anything.”
The sting is nonetheless likely to cause embarrassment for Andrew and the royal household.
"Five hundred thousand pounds when you can, to me ... open doors," she said in the film the newspaper said was shot at a London flat on Tuesday, before shaking hands with the reporter who had posed as a wealthy businessman.
"Then you open up all the channels whatever you need, whatever you want ... We can do so much."
The 50-year-old prince, also known as the Duke of York, acts as Britain's special representative for international trade and investment, augmenting work by the business ministry.
The two, who have two daughters, divorced amicably in 1996 after a 10-year marriage.
While Ferguson, also 50, has not achieved the worldwide fame of the late Princess Diana, she has found popularity and success in the United States and beyond, through a variety of television appearances, penning weight-loss books and charity work.
Neither Ferguson nor Buckingham Palace was available to comment on the footage.
The News of the World said the prince, the second son of Queen Elizabeth and fourth in line to the throne, knew nothing of Ferguson's claims.
And in the tape Ferguson makes it clear that her former husband "never does accept a penny for anything.”
The sting is nonetheless likely to cause embarrassment for Andrew and the royal household.
"Five hundred thousand pounds when you can, to me ... open doors," she said in the film the newspaper said was shot at a London flat on Tuesday, before shaking hands with the reporter who had posed as a wealthy businessman.
"Then you open up all the channels whatever you need, whatever you want ... We can do so much."
The 50-year-old prince, also known as the Duke of York, acts as Britain's special representative for international trade and investment, augmenting work by the business ministry.
The two, who have two daughters, divorced amicably in 1996 after a 10-year marriage.
While Ferguson, also 50, has not achieved the worldwide fame of the late Princess Diana, she has found popularity and success in the United States and beyond, through a variety of television appearances, penning weight-loss books and charity work.
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