Prince Andrew Reportedly Got ‘Suspicious’ Payments From Ex-Banker Implicated in 'Multimillion Fraud'
06:05 GMT 01.04.2022 (Updated: 15:18 GMT 28.05.2023)
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Prince Andrew’s name has come up in an alleged fraud case just after the embattled royal dodged a court hearing by settling with his sex abuse accuser, Virginia Giuffre, without admitting any liability.
Prince Andrew received over £1 million ($1.3 mil.) from an alleged fraudster, reported The Daily Telegraph.
As part of what is believed to be a £40 million international fraud case, both the Duke of York and his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, were reportedly wired "suspicious" payments. The money had been transferred on the orders of a former Goldman Sachs banker - Selman Turk, according to the outlet.
One of the aforementioned payments to the Queen’s second son was purportedly worth £750,000 ($985,000)and had come from Nebahat Evyap Isbilen.
The 76-year-old Turkish millionairess is the wife of an imprisoned former member of parliament in Turkey. Her husband, Ilhan Isbilen, the former deputy leader of the ruling AK Party, had been jailed in 2015 after an attempted coup.
Mrs. Isbilen is said to have made the payment to the royal under the belief she was paying for help with a passport that would enable her to leave her homeland, where she was ostensibly facing political persecution.
‘Payment by Way of a Gift’
The royal reportedly received the first payment just days after Selman Turk, who was also a financial adviser to Nebahat Evyap Isbilen, won an award at the Pitch@Palace competition at St James's Palace – an initiative set up by Prince Andrew to support entrepreneurs by “providing them with the best opportunities to access mentors and advisers, distribution systems and supply chains, connections and investment.”
Britain's Queen Elizabeth, accompanied by Prince Andrew, Duke of York, attends a service of thanksgiving for late Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, at Westminster Abbey in London, Britain, March 29, 2022
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The event, where Mrs Isbilen was in the audience, required entrepreneurs to present pitches lasting no more than three minutes to a gathering of “CEOs, influencers, angels, mentors and business partners”.
The winner of the People’s Choice Award on the day in question, according to the outlet, was digital banking company Heyman AI, whose chief executive and founder was a young Turkish financier, Selman Turk.
Just nine days later, on 15 November 2019, £750,000 went into the Duke of York’s bank account, according to court documents seen by The Telegraph.
In a signed affidavit, the Turkish woman claimed she “authorised a transfer of £750,000” from her British bank account to “HRH Duke of York” after “Mr Turk told me that he received help from the Duke of York” in securing a new Turkish passport. When fleeing Turkey for London, where she arrived in February 2018, Mrs Isbilen had purportedly left her old passport behind.
Turk is described as having informed his wealthy client that such a service from a royal “would normally be worth £2 million but it would cost less if we made the payment by way of a gift”.
“Mrs. Isbilen authorised a transfer of £750,000 out of” an account held with a private bank Hampden & Co on 15 November, show the cited documents.
Jonathan Tickner, Mrs. Isbilen’s solicitor, stated in an affidavit submitted to the High Court:
“Mrs. Isbilen’s evidence is that she was told the payment was to be made in connection with immigration documents. In fact, Mr. Turk appeared at a charity event hosted by Prince Andrew at St. James’ Palace on 5 November 2019, at which he sought to promote his UK banking business. Mrs. Isbilen suspects that the payment was made for some purpose connected with the banking business.”
The original claim made by Selman Turk that she needed to pay the Duke for her passport "or for any other purpose" was "false", according to the High Court civil claim.
‘Fraudulent, Covert Front’
Further payments linked to Selman Turk were made to Prince Andrew, as well as to his ex-wife, Sarah, Duchess of York, through a third party account.
Bank disclosures reveal that a company called Alphabet Capital Ltd had made “further transfers of up to £350,000, in regular instalments … to Prince Andrew,” stated Tickner in his affidavit. Court papers suggest there is “strong evidence” that Alphabet Capital was a “fraudulent and covert front used by Mr Turk to make payments to persons associated with him”.
Furthermore, based on bank disclosures, “at least £225,000 was transferred to an account in the name of ‘Duchess of York’ out of the Alphabet account”. The money was transferred on 9 August 2019, three months before the Pitch@palace event.
Sarah Ferguson arrives for the wedding ceremony of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at St. George's Chapel in Windsor Castle in Windsor, near London, England, Saturday, May 19, 2018
© AP Photo / Gareth Fuller
According to cited bank records, the Duchess of York also received payments after being announced as brand ambassador for Pegasus Group Holdings, a renewable energy company, in July 2019.
Nebahat Evyap Isbilen claims that Selman Turk, her financial adviser, had helped her with arrangements to reach London via Samos island and Athens. According to her, the agreed fee for Turk’s services had been $1 million. She now alleges the man caused her "as much as around £39.37 million of loss".
She is currently seeking discovery from 11 banks in New York for a civil lawsuit in London against entities in the British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, England, Jersey, and United Arab Emirates for "a multinational alleged £40 million-plus fraud “committed against her by Mr. Selman Turk,” who has a worldwide freezing order on his assets. Turk, who has surrendered his passport, denies all allegations against him.
According to David Halpern QC, deputy High Court judge who granted a search of Turk's premises earlier in March, there is "strong prima facie case" for "a major fraud" through "undue influence by a trusted adviser over a woman who was vulnerable because of her age, her inability to speak English and her status as a refugee from abroad, and who trusted him as if he were a family member".
There has been no official comment on the report from the Duke of York, who, sometime after the first hearing into Mrs. Isbilen's allegations last March, paid the money back to her.
There is no clarity whether the royal had done anything in return for the payments or what explanation was given to him for the money transfers into his personal account. Neither he, nor his ex-wife are central to the latest legal proceedings, and there is no suggestion of any wrongdoing on their part.
"The Duchess was completely unaware of the allegations that have since emerged against Mr Turk. She is naturally concerned by what has been alleged against him," a spokesman for the Duchess of York was cited as saying.
