Prince Andrew sets up firm with banker who resigned following storm over sexual harassment claims

Prince Andrew has set up a company with a disgraced banker accused of sexual harassment.

The Duke of York has gone into business with Harry Keogh, once a star financier at the Queen‘s bank, Coutts, before he resigned in March 2018 following a storm over sexual harassment claims.

Mr Keogh was disciplined after accusations that he inappropriately touched young female staff, made lewd comments and was a heavy drinker.

But it seems the Duke of York has started a business venture with his long-time friend, who attended the wedding of his daughter, Eugenie, in 2018.

The Duke of York (right) has gone into business with Harry Keogh (left), once a star financier at the Queen’s bank, Coutts, before he resigned in March 2018 following a storm over sexual harassment claims

The company, which was formed last June, will be a vehicle for Andrew’s family investments and will have an unlimited status, which affords it a degree of privacy, The Times reported.

It is named Lincelles, after an 18th-century battle in which the Duke of York commanded the English against the French.

The business will not have to file accounts with Companies House and can avoid disclosing its profits or income.

Andrew controls 75 per cent of the firm through the Urramoor Trust. He and Mr Keogh are listed as persons with significant control over Lincelles.

Lincelles’ other controller is Charles Douglas, a commercial lawyer specialising in advising offshore funds and high-net-worth individuals. Its director is Dominic Hampshire, the secretary of the QuadCentenary Club, of which the duke is chairman.

Mr Keogh is understood to have worked as the duke’s ‘private banker’ for 20 years.

Andrew has previously faced questions over his close links to financier Jeffrey Epstein, who was accused of multiple sexual offences. He committed suicide while awaiting trial in 2019. Andrew denied the claims made against him.

Prince Andrew pictured at Windsor Castle on April 26, 2021. Andrew and Mr Keogh are listed as persons with significant control over Lincelles

Mr Keogh was given a written warning and had a bonus withheld after the allegations in 2018, but was allowed to keep his job. He eventually quit following widespread outrage that the bank had allowed him to stay.

A spokesman for Coutts’ parent company, Royal Bank of Scotland, said at the time: ‘Following media attention and the consequent strain placed on him and his family, Harry Keogh resigned.’ It is alleged the banker’s behaviour was so toxic that some female staff refused to work with him.

He is claimed to have touched the groin of a graduate trainee in her 20s in front of other employees and whispered to her as he left a company dinner that ‘he’d take her with him if he could’, according to notes from an internal probe seen by the Wall Street Journal.

Mr Keogh told The Times that a non-disclosure agreement with the bank meant he was unable to comment on the allegations, but he is said to have denied them and reportedly sued Coutts for unfair dismissal.

A spokesman for Andrew said: ‘The Duke of York’s private office established the Urramoor Trust, which owns both Lincelles Unlimited and Urramoor Ltd, a private limited company, which files public accounts. The trust, of which the Duke of York is settlor but not a beneficiary, has independent trustees. The duke is not an owner of either Lincelles or Urramoor Ltd as a matter of fact and law.’

Ghislaine: I need sock over my eyes to sleep 

Ghislaine Maxwell, pictured with her ex-boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein in 2005

Ghislaine Maxwell is sleeping with a sock or towel on her face to shield her from light being shone into her cell by guards every 15 minutes.

Her lawyer David Markus made the claim during a hearing for Maxwell’s appeal against her third bail refusal, which was rejected last month.

Judges in New York questioned why Maxwell, 59, was having a light shone in her cell throughout the night.

Assistant US Attorney Lara Pomerantz said: ‘The light is not being shined into her eyes, it’s being shined into the ceiling so guards can check on her security and… she uses some sort of makeshift mask to cover her eyes.’

Maxwell’s lawyers have questioned why she is being treated as a suicide risk, causing her to be checked on regularly during the night. Mr Markus told the court: ‘She tries to use either a sock or a towel to block out the light on her own, it’s not wrapped around her head.

‘You can imagine trying to keep that on your eyes at night so the guards don’t wake you every 15 minutes.’

He claimed Maxwell was only being subjected to such conditions after Jeffrey Epstein killed himself in August 2019 while in a Manhattan prison awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

Maxwell has denied charges of procuring teenage girls for Epstein to sexually abuse.

The judges said they would reserve their decision on bail to a later date.