Terje Rød-larsen dies after $5 million Epstein bequest
Edward Juul Rød-Larsen, the 25-year-old son of Mona Juul and terje rød-larsen, died by suicide in Oslo on Wednesday. He had been bequeathed $5 million by Jeffrey Epstein, and the death comes as Norwegian authorities examine his parents’ alleged links to Epstein.
The couple’s lawyers said speculation about their financial ties to Epstein had become “months of a public spotlight that has long since ceased to be critical, and has instead become suspicious, speculative and at times limitless.” They also said the pressure had drawn their children into “the relentless machinery of the public.”
Norway and France open inquiry
Norwegian and French police announced a joint corruption investigation into Mona Juul and Terje Rød-Larsen two days before the report of Edward Juul Rød-Larsen’s death. The timing places the family under a new wave of scrutiny just as the case moved from allegation into cross-border police cooperation.
Mona Juul was forced to resign as Norway’s ambassador to Jordan and Iraq in February because of the scandal. Terje Rød-Larsen, a former president of the International Peace Institute, has denied committing any offenses. The couple appears to have visited Epstein’s private island, Little Saint James, with their children in 2011, when Edward Juul Rød-Larsen and his twin sister would have been around 10 years old.
Epstein emails and will
Terje Rød-Larsen later thanked Epstein for the invite and described the island as “totally unique.” In another email, he wrote, “We all loved it!” and “Mona sends a kiss.” The Department of Justice files indicate that the couple’s two children were bequeathed $10 million by Epstein after he died in 2019, while Terje Rød-Larsen was appointed executor of Epstein’s will in 2017 before that role was later revoked.
The scandal also reached Norway’s royal family in February, when it was revealed that Crown Princess Mette-Marit sent Epstein emails in which she said he “tickled” her brain. She later expressed “deep regret” and acknowledged “poor judgment.”
For the Rød-Larsen family, the immediate question is no longer the size of the reported bequest or the scope of the emails, but how the joint Norwegian-French inquiry now handles the wider Epstein record tied to two senior Norwegian diplomats. The next move belongs to the investigators, and the family’s public exposure will now be measured against that investigation rather than the statements that preceded it.
