Jeffrey Epstein described Anglo-Irish banking heiress Sabrina Guinness as one of his “old buddies” ahead of a dinner in London in January 2017.
Guinness comes from the banking line of the family and her father was James Edward Alexander Rundell Guinness, former chairman of Guinness Mahon Holdings – the merchant bank that compromised hundreds of Irish elites with offshore Ansbacher accounts.
There is no suggestion she was involved with her father’s business.
Guinness was to attend the party with her husband Tom Stoppard while the following year her brother Hugo was due to attend a separate event with Epstein.
A who's who in British and American cultural elite
In an email released by the US Department of Justice, Jeffrey Epstein’s long-time publicist Peggy Siegal discussed the guestlist for a “Pre-BAFTA and Birthday Celebrations” event in London. “You are invited,” she said to Epstein.
She was hosting the event along with producer Barbara Broccoli and Jessica de Rothschild, daughter of Evelyn de Rothschild.
Siegal said it would be a “very high power gathering” and a “who's who in British and American cultural elite.”
Sabrina Guinness, a television producer from the banking line of the Anglo-Irish Guinness family, was listed as an invitee.
One of Siegal’s assistants said to Epstein she “had noted that you will be out of town” for the dinner.
Epstein, considering the guestlist, replied, “Fiona golfar. sabrina guiness. Jessica rothschild. andre belagz, stan bucky bucktahl. what a collection all old buddies”.
Guinness’s father James Edward Alexander Rundell Guinness entered the family business in 1946 and became a partner in 1953. His great-great grandfather founded Guinness Mahon in 1836.
Having been chairman of Guinness Mahon Holdings till 1972, Rundell Guinness later became chairman of Guinness Peat Group.
Guinness Mahon’s Irish operation facilitated illegal offshore Cayman Islands bank accounts for the state’s political and social hierarchy. “The world’s sleaziest bank,” the Bank of Credit and Commerce International, which the CIA used to transfer funds during the Iran-Contra affair and for other covert operations, had offices registered in the Guinness Mahon Building in Grand Cayman.
Under the scheme clients would deposit funds into a bank in the west Caribbean territory, allowing them to avoid tax and access the funds in Ireland through Guinness Mahon. The scheme left participants – Irish elites – deeply exposed.
Des Traynor, who ran the service, worked at Guinness Mahon and was a financial advisor to Charlie Haughey.
Sabrina Guinness, “once dubbed the 'It Girl' of her generation", is a television producer who once dated Charles III.
The year after Epstein called Sabrina one of his “old buddies”, her brother Hugo, an artist, was to attend a separate event with him.
Siegel sent Epstein an email in April 2018 asking if he wanted to attend the premiere of a film starring Rachel Weisz.
"Hi Jeffrey let us know if you can attend,” Siegel wrote. “On Wednesday, April 11th, Emily Mortimer and Daniel Craig invite you to join Alessandro Nivola and Rachel Weisz at their very private screening for friends and family of Bleecker Street's DISOBEDIENCE. There is absolutely no press.”
A separate May 2010 email sent to Epstein referenced Lynn Guinness, another from the banking line, with a redacted sender telling an anecdote about an acquaintance and “her best friend Lynn Guinness”.
Sabrina Guinness has been contacted for comment.
