New trouble for the British royal family: A friend of Sarah Ferguson is sued in connection with a sex ring. Ferguson came into contact with real estate magnate Trammell Crow Jr. because of his involvement in environmental issues. He is said to have funded a ring in which women are said to have been sexually abused.

The allegations came as the Duchess was attempting to polish her image in the US and as she was promoting her new novel. Her image had suffered because Ferguson had defended her former husband Prince Andrew in several interviews when he was accused of having sex with a 17-year-old victim of pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Ferguson himself is not connected to the crimes, but the new scandal casts a shadow over the Yorks. Ferguson's ex-husband, Prince Andrew, has been forced to withdraw from the public eye over his links to pedophile Epstein. A source told the Daily Mail: "They met once in his capacity as organizer of Earth X, the world's largest environmental gathering, and she was unaware of these allegations. She has no intention of working with Mr Crow or him to see again."

The British "Sun" reports that two women have filed the lawsuit. It says that the ring kept the women drugged. "Crow maintained what he called lingerie rooms in every property he owned, where he kept a variety of lingerie for female guests, as well as what he called 'stripper shoes'." Crow denies the allegations, his lawyer called them "absurd and obviously false".

Ferguson is now reunited with her ex-husband Andrew. But the couple fears they will no longer be able to stay at the Royal Lodge home in Windsor. It is said that they were suggested to move into the much more modest Frogmore Cottage. King Charles is said to be planning to cut his brother's £249,000 annual support. Then Andrew could no longer afford to maintain the lodge.

Those: Daily Mail, Sun