For a woman who claims to be a public relations guru, Katherine Keating’s reaction to being pictured waving to Prince Andrew as she left Jeffrey Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse nine years ago has been strange to say the least.
PR 101 would dictate you get on the front foot and quickly release a statement distancing yourself from Epstein and the horrors that occurred behind the walls of his $77million lair.
But the daughter of one of Australia’s most revered leaders – Paul Keating – has maintained a stony silence about what she was doing on that chilly day .
A day after the Mail On Sunday published extraordinary footage of the Prince inside the paedophile’s residence, friends of the former prime minister’s daughter confirmed the ‘mystery woman’ at the end of the short clip (and a photograph a few minutes later) was indeed Ms Keating.
Key moment: At 4.40pm on December 6, 2010, Keating emerges from Epstein’s house, pauses for a moment and turns around to face the door
Carefree: The video showed Prince Andrew waving goodbye to Keating, apparently unconcerned that he might be seen at the home of a convicted pedophile
Round the corner: Katherine Keating was photographed minutes after leaving pedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s lair, carrying a Yves Saint Laurent Downtown tote, currently on sale at $1,085
The release of the video has thrust Ms Keating into the public glare in a way she has never experienced in her privileged life.
While there is no suggestion Keating was aware of or involved in any of Mr Epstein’s criminal activities, her silence has been deafening.
She has had been contacted by multiple news agencies, multiple times, without making any comment.
Her silence is odd because since charges were laid against Epstein, 66, a cast of men and women more famous and powerful than Ms Keating – and with clearer connections to the dead financier – have publicly distanced themselves from him.
They range from U.S. President Donald Trump, to billionaire Microsoft founder Bill Gates and former President Bill Clinton, who is depicted in drag in a painting on the apartment’s wall.
But Keating, now a 37-year-old self-styled ‘corporate activist’, has been conspicuous by her refusal to comment.
To add to the mystery, her father bizarrely chose to hide his face with a piece of paper when he was approach by Daily Mail Australia about his daughter’s appearance in the video.
But according to prominent public relations manager Max Markson, Ms Keating and her father are both playing their cards right.
Despite having cashed in on her family’s name and connections, the PR guru says Ms Keating is best off laying low until the Epstein storm blows over.
‘The smartest thing for Katherine to do is just to ignore it all and let it go through to the keeper,’ Mr Markson told DMA.
‘There is nothing to be gained by going out and engaging with anyone about it.
‘In this situation she’s so far removed from the actual story, you don’t even know it’s her, so she is best to just ignore.
Katherine (left) is pictured with her father Paul and sister Caroline at the opening of a musical about the former prime minister in 2006
An unusually publicity-shy Paul Keating, now 75, slipped out the back door of his heritage-listed office in Potts Point and got into a waiting red four-wheel-drive
Paul Keating and his daughters(left to right) Katherine Keating, Caroline Keating and Alexandra Keating are pictured at the official opening of Paul Keating Park in June 2000 in Sydney, Australia
Mr Keating went to considerable lengths to avoid commenting on his daughter Katherine
‘The palace put their statement out and deplored Epstein and left it at that. I wouldn’t even go that far if I was Katherine.’
Ms Keating’s involvement with Epstein came courtesy of the connections she has cultivated through her family name.
In 2002, at just 20 and while studying arts at the University of New South Wales, she became a member of then NSW Premier Bob Carr’s personal staff.
She left that role in mid-2003, but remained an advisor to the NSW Labor government until 2005.
Ms Keating parlayed that plum political posting into a role as a board member for the Sydney Cancer Foundation.
It would be the first of more than a dozen positions on boards and committees as she split her time between the United States and Australia.
They included the Young Garvan Committee, Australia’s National Institute for Dramatic Art (NIDA) and the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Some of the boards she sat on were run by friends of her father, like Gareth Evans – a prominent foreign minister in Mr Keating’s government – who now chairs the International Crisis Group.
For a decade, Ms Keating held roles with various reputable organisations, but did not have a full-time job.
But that lack of employment did not affect her ability to enjoy a lavish lifestyle.
Couple: At the time the footage was taken at Epstein’s pedophile lair, Katherine Keating was the girlfriend of hotelier Andre Balazs (center). Her sister Alex (left) joined them at a party for the Australians in New York Fashion Foundation
Keating moved to New York in 2010 to be with her then-boyfriend, hotelier Andre Balazs (left), who was 24 years her senior. Balazs was seen next to Ghislaine Maxwell (right) on a number of occasions at social events in New York, including this art exhibition opening in March 2008
Socialite: Katherine Keating partied in February 2014 with Prince Andrew’s daughter Princess Eugenie (second right) and (from left) Sting’s eldest daughter Mickey Sumner and Misha Nonoo, the British-Iraqi fashion designer who is partly credited with introducing Prince Harry to her friend Megan Markle
Throughout her 20s she lived the high life in Sydney sipping champagne and gracing the society pages with a cache of louche friends.
Ms Keating’s Sydney girlfriends gave the nickname ‘hubcap’ because she ‘liked to stick to the big wheels’.
In 2010 she moved to New York and began a relationship with billionaire Las Vegas hotel owner Andre Balazs.
She was regularly pictured at exclusive events including alongside Ghislaine Maxwell, who was Epstein’s girlfriend at the time.
It’s believed her relationship with Balazs – a close associate of Ms Maxwell – led to Ms Keating’s invitation to Epstein’s apartment.
Although her credentials were inferior to many of those in the room, her time in New York saw her rub shoulders with business and political leaders.
In 2015 she landed her first full-time role since leaving the NSW government, taking up a role with popular new-age media outlet VICE.
But working full-time didn’t see her forgo her positions on the various boards.
She travelled to South Africa in 2017 as part of the Nelson Mandela Advisory Council and last year made her annual appearance at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
‘Once a year I put on a suit, head uptown for UNGA and pretend I still work in politics,’ Ms Keating posted on Twitter.
Friends: Katherine Keating (circled) and Ghislaine Maxwell (second right) partied at a Dom Perignon-sponsored event in Maxwell’s home in 2013, launching a social network called Ideapod. It is now a publishing and education platform. They were pictured with (second left) then Icelandic prime minister Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, his wife Dorritt Moussaieff and her daughter Sharon
Katherine (left) is pictured with her younger sister Alexandra (right) on social media
‘I enjoyed spending the afternoon in the company of (French President Emmanuel) Macron and several other world leaders.’
After spending three years at VICE in New York, she moved to the west coast late last year to become Chief Sustainability Officer at Maverick Management, who count top music stars like Paul McCartney, Madonna and Brittney Spears among their clients.
Keating remains in hiding, while her family is making very few efforts to distance her from the saga.
‘I’m not Katherine,’ her younger sister Alexandra told Mail Online this week. There is no suggestion that Alexandra knew Epstein or had any knowledge of or involvement in his criminal activities.
Whether Ms Keating has more to say on the matter and her relationship – or a lack of one – with Epstein, remains to be seen.