Over 1,000 Mentions of Former Australian PM’s Daughter in Epstein File Release

There has never been any suggestion that Keating had knowledge of, or involvement in, Epstein’s criminal activities.

Katherine Keating (L), pictured at an intimate dinner in honour of Blake Lively hosted by CHANEL at La Grenouille on March 2, 2011, in New York City. (Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images for CHANEL) and Jeffrey Epstein (R), pictured in a handout provided by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, after he was charged with procuring a minor for prostitution on July 25, 2013 in Florida. (Florida Department of Law Enforcement via Getty Images).

The name of the eldest daughter of former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating, Katherine Keating, appears in more than 1,000 documents released by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) under the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

Many of the documents are emails, some heavily redacted that the name of the sender and some or all recipients cannot be ascertained, such as an Apr. 22, 2011 memo from an unknown sender to an unknown recipient and Lyn Fontanilla, Jeffrey Epstein’s housekeeper.

It simply says, “Katherine Keating is coming to the house to meet with JE at 12 today”—the reason for hiding the identities of those involved is unclear.

Epstein and Katherine Keating met when the latter was 29 and hoping to break into a career in American TV after her arrival in New York.

Most of the email exchanges, which began in 2010, concern scheduling multiple meetings between the pair. On Apr. 20, 2011, Epstein granted a redacted recipient permission to provide Keating with his private cell number.

Epstein also arranged calendar reminders to alert him to events, such as “Katherine Keating in Paris today” on Oct. 30, 2011.

On one occasion in Apr. 2011, Katherine Keating offered to bring her younger sister, Alexandra Keating, to a dinner the financier was organising with film director Woody Allen, after Epstein told her that, “Woody likes pretty women.”

“I could invite my sister. 25, very cool and sharp as a tack,” Keating suggested. “Great,” Epstein replied.

Daughters of former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating, Katherine Keating (L) and Alexandra Keating attend at a cocktail party in Sydney, Australia, on Jan. 23, 2007. Patrick Riviere/Getty Images

The meetings appeared to have continued through 2013, and many were initiated at Epstein’s request, though they also revealed Keating seeking his advice as she tried to build her television career.

At one point, he wrote to her, “This has gone on too long. You have seen many, many potential buyers of your product, and no one is buying. I think the sales pitch or/and the product (you) need to be tweaked.”

The exchanges occurred after the disgraced financier had pleaded guilty to state charges in Florida of procuring a person under 18 for prostitution in 2008, but before his 2019 arrest in New York City on federal charges of sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy to to commit sex trafficking of minors.

It is worth noting that while her name appeared in Epstein’s files, there has never been any suggestion that Keating had knowledge of, or involvement in, Epstein’s criminal activities, nor in any of the behaviour alleged against the former Prince Andrew.

Katherine Keating Calls the Emails ‘Inconsequential’

Recently, Katherine Keating told The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper that the emails—which she described as “inconsequential”—was the result of “Epstein’s manic interest in following up any person whom he met or crossed paths with.”

She also noted that the frequency of contact from Epstein and his staff amounted to “persistence bordering on harassment,” and ultimately led her to sever contact with him.

Last year, after an earlier release by the DOJ, she confirmed that she had attended an event at Epstein’s New York mansion in February 2011 after being invited by Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, then known as Prince Andrew.

In an interview with Daily Mail, Katherine Keating explained that “a sizeable chunk of NY society was there, including [American TV journalists] Barbara Walters, Charlie Rose, and Katie Couric.”

“At the time, I had only lived in New York about 10 weeks, and was happy to accept the odd social invitation,” she said.

Keating now calls her initial encounter with the former British prince “unfortunate.”

“Were this not to have happened, I would have had no contact with Epstein whatsoever,” she said.

“To be unequivocal: I never visited Epstein’s island, never flew on his plane, never had any inappropriate interaction with him or anyone he introduced me to, never witnessed inappropriate behaviour, and had absolutely no knowledge of the criminal conduct that has since come to light.”