JEFFREY Epstein would boast to his pals that he was selling the Duke of York's secrets to Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad, his former "mentor" has claimed.

Steven Hoffenberg also claims Epstein met Prince Andrew years earlier than the royal says their friendship began - and used to talk of the prince as his "Super Bowl" trophy.

8 Epstein was found dead in his cell last year awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges Credit: New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services/Handout via REUTERS

Hoffenberg and Epstein criminally masterminded one of the biggest Ponzi schemes in history, fraudulently ripping off investors of nearly half a billion dollars in the late Eighties and early Nineties until their scam was busted by the FBI.

In an exclusive interview, Hoffenberg says he is revealing the "75 per cent about Epstein" that no one else has ever told before, claiming: "I’m the only eyewitness, who can tell what Epstein said about the intelligence, rapes and finances."

Hoffenberg - a born-again Christian who is helping in the legal cases of Epstein’s rape victims - said Epstein’s alleged madame Ghislaine Maxwell introduced the disgraced financier to the prince in the early nineties - years earlier than 1999, which is when the Prince claims they met.

“Epstein was a bragger, a boaster,” Hoffenberg told The Sun.

8 Prince Andrew was Epstein's "Super Bowl trophy" according to Hoffenberg Credit: EPA

8 Steven Hoffenberg spent 18 years in federal prison after being found guilty of running a ponzi scheme in 1993

“He always explained to me what he was up to. He acquired his first royal connection in the early nineties, he told me about it. He got it from [Ghislaine] Maxwell and used it substantially. That was the Super Bowl to him, it was the most important relationship to him.

''Epstein did meet Prince Andrew around 1991, this was said to me by Epstein. Epstein was very pleased with meeting the prince and it was in the UK.

“Epstein knew he could manipulate Andrew. That’s a solid fact. Epstein’s ability to manipulate was extraordinary. If he wanted to, he could have been the President of America.

“Andrew respected Epstein highly and was tremendously impressed, so that’s what made him vulnerable to Epstein.

“This was a trophy friendship, it was his strongest bond, even more than Clinton’s."

Prince Andrew has always denied any wrongdoing - and played down the extent of his friendship with Epstein.

The Sun reached out to a representative for Maxwell and Buckingham Palace for comment.

8 Ghislaine Maxwell allegedly introduced the financier to Mossad, Hoffenberg claims Credit: Joe Schildhorn/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images

8 Hoffenberg, left, is escorted by FBI agents in Little Rock, Ark., in 1996 after turning himself in

The 74-year-old widower, who now lives in Connecticut, claims that Epstein told him about his blackmail plots, which became ever more sophisticated, especially when the Maxwell became involved.

Cameras were set up in all his houses, his private plane, nicknamed the Lolita Express, and Epstein threw parties for his high profile friends, providing a roster of younger, underage women, Hoffenberg said.

Hoffenberg, who attended some of these parties, says that any recordings and information was used for financial gain and also given to Mossad, the feared Israeli intelligence service.

“He told me that Ghislaine Maxwell was going to be the breakthrough to bring him into that orbit - to be able to part of the agency in Israel - and that’s what did occur," he said.

8 Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein go for a stroll together through New York's Central Park. Credit: News Group Newspapers Ltd

“They created the plan of installing the honeypot cameras and had taken over the house in Manhattan [given to him by his billionaire client Les Wexner] to blackmail the politicians.

“He then took over the house in Florida and put in cameras. The cameras were to record rapes, it wasn’t just about gathering intelligence, but compromising the politicians.

“When he befriended Andrew, he had a deal with the Israelis to gather the intelligence and information from people who Epstein took into his homes and his plane.

“Andrew had a weakness for the girls and fast life, Epstein provided that fantasy." Steven Hoffenberg

“I remember Andrew was at many of his events when he took over the house in Manhattan, that was in the early years.

“He got tremendous power and influence from Ghislaine, using that intelligence to socially climb, with Trump, Clinton and Andrew. Andrew didn’t understand he was being used, he’s a royal so doesn’t look at that.

“He would discuss tactics with me speaking of Andrew as a trophy, a tremendous friend and benefit in his social network, he’d brag about it. It was a big, big, big issue with him.

"This guy [Andrew] was seduced by Epstein, totally overwhelmed by him, so impressed with his authority and way of life, his fast lane. He is one in a kind of people. Clinton was brilliant with people, but Epstein was far above that level.

8 New York Governor Mario Cuomo with Steven Hoffenberg, left, in 1993

“Andrew had a weakness for the girls and fast life, Epstein provided that fantasy. Andrew would then give intelligence that Epstein would give to Israel. This was happening when I was working with Epstein.”

Hoffenberg is considered Epstein’s original ‘mentor’ after making him his right-hand man while he was CEO of the collection agency, Towers Financial Corporation, in the mid-eighties.

Hoffenberg says Epstein was living in London at the time working for British arms dealer Douglas Leese after being fired by the US investment bank Bear Stearns for a deal that went wrong.

He says Epstein, who was found dead in his cell last year awaiting trial for sex trafficking, came to him broke and together they made hundreds of millions working on a Ponzi scheme to syphon off company funds instead of paying investors.

8 Donald Trump and his then-girlfriend Melania with Epstein and Maxwell at Mar-a-Lago club, Palm Beach, Florida, Credit: Davidoff Studios/Getty Images

After an FBI bust in 1995, Hoffenberg pleased guilty to mail fraud, tax evasion and obstruction of justice, and was sentenced to 20 years - serving 18 - while Epstein escaped punishment.

“He didn’t have the millions when he met me, that was why he used me, as a vehicle to the millions.

“I was part of this plan. He was the mastermind chess player, like Bobby Fischer, always 12 steps in front of everyone, he had no moral compass, he had no boundaries in his thinking, he was a truly unusual person.

“He didn’t think based on the rules, the rules never applied to him in our conversations, thousands of them every week. He only strategized how to get around the rules with me.

“He discussed blackmailing, how he would get information that he could use for intelligence, we discussed it at length. He was brainstorming [ideas] that he could gather information, read people for their weaknesses, so that he could get them to like him right away, and make us even more money. That was on his radar to be liked instantly, his mindset was seduction of people.

“He was so cunning and had a dynamic personality, he did blackmail in the most charming fashion, he made it comfortable for people to break the rules, as if it’s a normal commodity. He made it normal for everyone on Wall St to break the rules, that’s how he was able to convince me.

“He could get under the skin of anyone and manipulated some of the most important people in the world.”

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Hoffenberg says he is speaking out as he is helping to seek justice for Epstein's victims. Since his release, he claims to have assisted in recovering $200 million to companies affected by his Ponzi scheme and is in touch with the rape victims, who have leaned on him to help understand Epstein better.

While Buckingham Palace declined to comment on Hoffenberg's claims, Prince Andrew did say in a BBC interview he met Epstein in 1999.

He also claimed "they were not close" and didn't spend much time together.