– A knife in the back. That’s how Morits Skaugen Jr. describes how Terje Rød-Larsen, with the help of Jeffrey Epstein, used him to take over a large apartment in Frogner at a bargain price. Now he also confirms that Epstein threatened him to sell.
On Thursday, Document wrote that Epstein subjected Skaugen to attempted extortion of NOK 4 million. This came after he felt pressurised into accepting Epstein’s and Rød-Larsen’s terms in the property case.
This is how Epstein blackmailed the shipowner after Rød-Larsen’s property deal
On Friday Skaugen came forward in VG and said that Epstein threatened him.
The statements shed light on details that cannot be verified by emails and text messages from the Epstein archive.
Thought the meeting was about a lease
Document wrote on Thursday that Skaugen was asked to sign a piece of paper in Paris, without it being known whether he was subjected to threats or coercion. We also referred to the fact that Epstein was no stranger to using threats in a similar blackmail case against a Norwegian film director.
Now Skaugen tells VG that he thought the meeting in Epstein’s 18-room apartment in Paris was about extending Rød-Larsen’s and Juul’s lease for the apartment at Drammensveien 42.
But the statement does not tally with an email Skaugen wrote to Epstein on 31 March 2018.
This was a week before the meeting in Paris, on 7 April 2018.
In the email, which Document published in its entirety on Thursday, Skaugen made a detailed proposal for resolving the conflict over the apartment in Frogner, and how the parties together would raise enough money for DNB to delete the mortgage.
The timeline shows that prior to the meeting, Skaugen was aware of Rød-Larsen’s ambition to exercise the purchase option he received in 2011, despite the fact that it expired in 2016.
Document has been unable to contact Morits Skaugen Jr. for comment.
The redacted purchase contract between seller Morits Skaugen Jr. and buyers Terje Rød-Larsen and Mona Juul, as released in the Epstein files.
Skaugen says that he first met Rød-Larsen in 2005. Six years later, the diplomat asked him for help. While Rød-Larsen was working in New York, Mona Juul and their 10-11 year old twins needed an apartment in Oslo. Skaugen then bought the apartment and rented it out to the diplomatic couple until they bought it in 2018.
From 2014, the family no longer needed to live in Oslo, as Juul became Norway’s ambassador in London. After the purchase of the luxury apartment in Oslo was secured, she was appointed ambassador to Norway’s permanent delegation to the UN in New York on 14 January 2019. She was there until 2023.
Skaugen tells VG that Epstein had prepared a map of the world for the meeting, which he placed on the table in front of him.
“The map showed all our most important customers and where they were located in the world, as well as our most important financing relationships. Epstein looked at the map and said to me: “Do you see what this is?”
“Yes, it’s an overview of our business,” Skaugen allegedly replied.
Skaugen was then director of the shipping company IM Skaugen, which went bankrupt at the beginning of October 2018.
– Feared the consequences
Epstein showed the shipowner around the apartment and pointed to pictures of himself with the heads of state and finance ministers of the various countries on the map. He even showed a picture of the chairman of the bank that lent the shipping company money.
“He said it would be bad if they weren’t willing to do more business with me, and that it could easily happen if we didn’t reach an agreement,” says Skaugen, according to VG.
Skaugen says he experienced a “fear of the consequences of what I perceived as a completely obvious plan, and which Epstein was able to implement.”
“I didn’t feel that he was bluffing me”
Epstein then allegedly made another threat:
He said my family would suffer for this.
Epstein added that they “could not continue to allow one of Skaugen’s family members to work for them”.
“They” is interpreted by Skaugen as Rød-Larsen and Epstein.
Camilla Reksten-Monsen is the daughter of Morits Skaugen’s wife, Grace Reksten Skaugen. She was Terje Rød-Larsen’s personal secretary for almost 10 years (Photo: Private)
The family member referred to is Skaugen’s stepdaughter, Camilla Reksten-Monsen. She was employed as Terje Rød-Larsen’s right-hand woman at the International Peace Institute (IPI) headquarters in New York from 2010 until he had to leave the position in 2020.
As Document reported yesterday, she continued to work for Rød-Larsen for several years after her stepfather’s conflict with Epstein and Rød-Larsen came to a head.
According to an email from Skaugen to Epstein, Rød-Larsen broke off contact with him as soon as the property transaction was completed.
He confirms this himself to VG’s journalist. He says he hasn’t seen Rød-Larsen since 2018, except for an 80th birthday party. According to Skaugen, Rød-Larsen never met his eyes there.
– Planned act
When I found out that he, together with a criminal, had made a plan to pressurise and defraud me, I experienced it as a knife in the back.
Skaugen describes Rød-Larsen as a former close friend. But in the light of the Epstein documents, he believes the explanation that Rød-Larsen was ill and could not attend the meeting in Paris was part of a planned act.