Prince Andrew was seen inside the New York apartment of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein getting a foot massage from a young woman, according to an email exchange between a prominent US literary agent and author and writer Evgeny Morozov.

In the exchange, published in the New Republic magazine, agent John Brockman recommends to writer Morozov (who he represents as literary agent) that he meet with Epstein, calling him a “billionaire science philanthropist” who has “been extremely generous in funding projects of many of our friends and clients”.

Epstein, 66, killed himself on 10 August in New York while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges. He was accused of abusing underage girls and reportedly making some of them pleasure several of his rich and powerful friends.

In the piece in the New Republic Morozov explains that he is on the point of cutting ties with Brockman on account of the agent’s continuing silence over his connections to Epstein.. “John has been in the news because of his troubling connections to Jeffrey Epstein,” writes Morozov.

He then cites an email exchange between himself and Brockman from 2013 which includes references to Prince Andrew’s foot massage: “It’s been more than a month since Epstein was arrested on the latest charges. Still, no word on the issue. And, now that I’ve found that old email he sent me, I cannot believe that he knew absolutely nothing of Epstein’s wild sexual escapades.”

Having detailed the contents of the email exchange Morozov concludes, “I am ready to pull the plug on my association with Brockman’s agency until and unless he clarifies the relationship between him … and Epstein.” The Guardian wrote about Epstein’s friendships with a host of renowned scientists, some of whom were introduced by Brockman.

The Guardian has contacted Brockman and not yet received a reply. Brockman also declined to respond to Morozov’s request for comment in the New Republic.

In the emails between Morozov (a regular contributor to the Guardian) and Brockman, dated 12 September 2013, the literary agent recounts visiting Epstein at his Manhattan house.

He writes: “Last time I visited his house (the largest private residence in NYC), I walked in to find him in a sweatsuit and a British guy in a suit with suspenders [braces], getting foot massages from two young well-dressed Russian women.”

“After grilling me for a while about cyber-security, the Brit, named Andy, was commenting on the Swedish authorities and the charges against Julian Assange. We think they’re liberal in Sweden, but its more like Northern England as opposed to Southern Europe,” Brockman reports “Andy” as saying.

Brockman writes that Andrew then complained about his public profile. “In Monaco, Albert works 12 hours a day but at 9pm, when he goes out, he does whatever he wants, and nobody cares. But, if I do it, I’m in big trouble,” the emails describe him saying.

At that point, Brockman writes: “I realized that the recipient of Irina’s foot massage was his Royal Highness, Prince Andrew, the Duke of York.”

Buckingham Palace has previously said Andrew was appalled by recent revelations about Epstein. The palace declined to comment on the contents of the email on Thursday night but reiterated its previous statement: “Any suggestion of impropriety with underage minors is categorically untrue.”

Brockman concludes the email by writing that a week later “on a slow news day the cover of the NYPost had a full-page photo of Jeffrey and Andrew walking in Central Park under the headline: ‘The Prince and the Perv.’ (That was the end of Andrew’s role at the UK trade ambassador.)”

The email exchange – which the New Republic posted online in full – took place almost three years after Prince Andrew, who has strenuously denied any involvement in Epstein’s alleged sex trafficking crimes, was photographed walking in New York’s Central Park with Epstein.

A video taken a day later, on 10 December 2010, showed the duke waving goodbye to a dark-haired woman, identified in media reports as Katherine Keating, daughter of the former Australian prime minister Paul Keating.

Brockman is a literary agent who has represented famous science authors. He also heads the Edge Foundation which seeks to spark debate and conversations between scientists, artists and intellectuals.

Ultimately Morozov says he declined Brockman’s invitation to meet with Epstein.

Buckingham Palace has strenuously denied any allegations of wrongdoing linked to his relationship with Epstein.

In a statement released on Sunday, Buckingham Palace said Andrew was “appalled by the recent reports of Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged crimes”. It said he “deplores the exploitation of any human being and the suggestion he would condone, participate in or encourage any such behaviour is abhorrent”.

Andrew reportedly met Epstein in the late 1990s, after being introduced by Epstein’s then girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell, the daughter of the press baron Robert Maxwell.

Ghislaine Maxwell, whose whereabouts are currently unknown, has previously denied any wrongdoing.

It was in Maxwell’s London home that a photograph was taken in 2001 capturing Andrew with his arm around Virginia Giuffre – a 17-year-old, then known as Virginia Roberts, who has alleged in court documents that Epstein coerced her into “sexual relations” with Andrew in London, New York and on Epstein’s private island in the US Virgin Islands.

When they emerged those allegations also prompted a forceful denial from Buckingham Palace, which vehemently denied there was “any form of sexual contact or relationship” between Andrew and Giuffre. “The allegations made are false and without any foundation,” the statement said. The allegations were later found to be immaterial and impertinent by the judge overseeing the case and struck out of the claim.