In 2018, Mona Juul and her husband Terje-Rød Larsen bought a 300-square-meter apartment in Frogner for 14 million kroner from Morits Skaugen. The former shipowner now tells VG:
- The only thing I want to say is that the sale was not voluntary.
It was Jeffrey Epstein who negotiated with Skaugen on behalf of the couple, Skaugen himself states.
It appears in an email from him to Epstein that he sold the apartment to the couple for “half price.”
He also informed Epstein that a smaller apartment in the same stairwell was put up for sale for almost 28 million.
VG has asked Skaugen several questions about why he was willing to sell the apartment so cheaply, and about the background to Epstein acting as an intermediary. The only thing he will say is that this was not his idea.
– Were you subjected to threats?
– I don’t want to answer that. But it is clear from the documents released by American authorities, says Skaugen.
In an email to the couple’s lawyer, Epstein wrote on April 4, 2018:
I’m aware of that. Tightening the rope slowly. He’s coming to Paris to meet. The more he writes, the better. DO NOT contact him yet.
Lawyer Kåre I. Moljord does not wish to comment on the dialogue with Epstein today.
– I was then the lawyer for the buyers and only the buyers ( Mona Juul and Terje Rød-Larsen editor’s note ) and as a lawyer you know that I have a duty of confidentiality, he says.
VG has asked Morits Skaugen several questions about what happened at the meeting between him and Epstein in Paris.
– That meeting was so fucking awful that I don’t want to talk about it, he says.
Morits Skaugen says he was pressured to sell the apartment cheaply to the couple Mona Juul and Terje Rød-Larsen. Photo: Furulund Svein Erik /
It was Dagens Næringsliv who first reported that the couple had purchased the apartment.
VG can now show new dialogue related to the negotiations about the apartment sale:
Ring
He’s coming to visit me in Paris this week. Extend the lease by 2/3 of the current rent for as many years as you wish. And start printing the purchase documents as soon as possible.
(From the context it appears that “he” is Morits Skaugen.)
Just for you: it looks like Mona will become an ambassador to the UN!
VG has asked Terje Rød-Larsen questions about what appears in this article without receiving an answer. Through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, VG has asked Mona Juul whether she told her managers about the purchase of the apartment, significantly below market price, and her possible connection to Jeffrey Epstein.
As ambassador to Jordan and Iraq, Mona Juul needs the highest security clearance available: " TOP SECRET."
According to the Security Act, qualities such as “reliability, loyalty and judgment” are emphasized when a person is cleared to access classified documents. Without a security clearance, Mona Juul cannot hold the position.
Convicted in 2008
The National Security Authority has a guide on completing the personal data form.
According to Frode Nilsen, spokesman for the interest group “Military personnel with clearance challenges”, Mona Juul should have notified her authorization manager about the discount on the home purchase.
– If the person in question, or someone close to them, has had financial transactions with a criminal, there is an immediate duty to disclose the matter, says Nilsen.
Epstein was convicted in 2008 of sex trafficking several minors and was a so-called registered sex offender.
Frode Nilsen
Spokesperson for the interest group “Military personnel with clearance challenges”
Nilsen has represented a number of defense employees who have lost their security clearance. Many of them for far less serious matters than Mona Juul’s, he says: debt collection problems, speeding tickets or close relatives being fined for possessing a small amount of drugs.
– There is not one law for King Solomon and another for Jørgen Hatter. Not even in safety legislation, says Nilsen and adds:
– If she needs to get financial support or help from such a suspicious person as Epstein, this is not like a pig, says Frode Nilsen.
He points out that contact with criminals is one of the criteria when assessing a security clearance.
– And if you don’t provide this information, it will be considered information evasion. And that can be even more serious than the information itself, says Nilsen.
He now believes that it is natural that Mona Juul’s clearance be suspended until the authorities have a clear picture.
Mona Juul was Norway’s UN ambassador in 2022 and met with Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre in the UN Security Council. Today, she is ambassador to Jordan. Photo: Gisle Oddstad / VG
VG has asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs whether Mona Juul provided information about her and her husband’s apartment purchase in 2018 and Epstein’s role in the purchase.
Minister of Foreign Affairs (Labour Party)
Mona Juul explains herself
Shortly afterwards, Foreign Minister Espen Barth-Eide responded in an email:
– New information has also been received about Terje Rød-Larsen, who has been closely associated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for many years, and his wife Mona Juul, who works at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In light of the information that has emerged in the media, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is now working with Juul, among other things, to gain an overview of the knowledge and contact she has had with Epstein.
On Monday she was exempted from work and on Tuesday Barth-Eide says that Mona Juul is already explaining herself to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs .
Changed explanation about contact
Mona Juul has previously stated to Dagens Næringsliv that she met Epstein back in 2007, and has since had “minimal contact”.
In recent days, the newspaper has reported that she and her husband later visited Epstein’s private island. Their children were also said to have received $10 million after his death.
Juul has stated to NTB that she has had no knowledge of her spouse’s financial arrangements or any financial relationships related to Epstein.
VG has nevertheless found an SMS from Epstein to Morits Skaugen, where Epstein describes himself as a “fiduciary” for the family, which can be translated as a trusted person or financial advisor.
I am his, and the family’s, fiduciary. I have done my homework. And I will come to Oslo to meet you. Just pick a day.
Mona Juul regretted yesterday that she had previously described the contact as "minima
– It was intended to describe it as private, sporadic and unrelated to my official duties. I see today that this was not a sufficiently precise description, she conveyed through NTB.
– I take full responsibility for my own choices and acknowledge that I showed poor judgment. I completely and unequivocally distance myself from Epstein and his actions, and express my deepest sympathy and support for the victims, said Mona Juul.
Ingvild Bruce
Legal expert at the Police Academy
Based on the media coverage, associate professor and legal expert Ingvild Bruce states that it may appear as if there was a more personal relationship between Juul and Epstein than she has previously stated.
– If there has been a personal relationship between Juul and Epstein, or her husband and Epstein, which could be used to pressure her to act contrary to national security interests, this is something she should have been informed about, she tells VG.
This case was written before Terje Rød-Larsen made a statement through his lawyer John Christian Elden. He says, among other things:
– He has expressed deep sympathy for those affected, and acknowledges that in retrospect he sees that he should have been more critical, Elden says.
Read more here .
Will not answer
VG has asked Mona Juul, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, whether she has told her authorization officer about her contact with convicted felon Jeffrey Epstein:
- Did you disclose the purchase of the apartment at a significantly below market price and any connections between Epstein and the real estate transaction?
- With what we know today about Jeffrey Epstein, do you think the purchase of the apartment should have been an issue in a security and integrity context?
VG has also sent questions to Terje Rød-Larsen. In 2020, he wrote the following to DN about his relationship with Epstein:
“I realize that it was a serious error of judgment on my part to participate in a personal financial relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, and I regret it wholeheartedly.”
Terje Rød-Larsen and Epstein
Top Norwegian diplomat Terje Rød-Larsen admitted in 2020 to borrowing money from billionaire Epstein. At one point, he owed Epstein $130,000, and he later approved a payment of $100,000 from the think tank International Peace Institute (IPI) to Epstein, DN previously reported.
Rød-Larsen resigned as head of IPI after receiving strong criticism from the chairman of the board for the financial connection to Epstein. He himself has described it as a “serious misjudgment” that he wholeheartedly regrets.
Børge Brende, Terje Rød-Larsen and Steve Bannon Photo: Screenshot
Published: 03.02.26 at 20:38
Updated: 06.02.26 at 16:24
