Ghislaine Maxwell has denied introducing Prince Andrew to Jeffrey Epstein and said they met for the first time at the holiday home of a British-American philanthropist.

The Duke of York’s personal relationship with Epstein became a major factor in his stepping down from royal duties amid the scandal around the disgraced paedophile financier.

Maxwell’s claim emerged in transcripts of her Department of Justice interviews, which were released on Friday afternoon by the Trump administration.

“First of all, let’s just state, I did not introduce him [Epstein] to Prince Andrew. I did not introduce him to Prince Andrew or to Sarah Ferguson. That is a flat untruth. I’ll start with that,” Maxwell said over nine hours of interviews over two days in July.