Meghan Markle's Father Thomas Markle reportedly ARRESTED by FBI

0:01 Hello and welcome to Palace Intrigue. I am your host, Mark Francis. This episode covers very sensitive material and may not be suitable for all listeners. Federal agents reportedly arrested Thomas Markle Sr., the estranged father of the Duchess of Sussex, at a Florida care facility on Friday. The Daily Mail reported that Agents took the 82-year-old into custody at Maravita Senior Living in Lakeland. TMZ said it confirmed the arrest, and the New York Post cited sources who said the FBI had taken him into custody. An unnamed source told the Daily Mail the arrest was for alleged possession of child sexual abuse material. Markle Senior has repeatedly denied possessing such material. The Sun reported that more than a dozen agents attended the facility and that Markle Sr. was handcuffed before being taken into an ambulance. Markle had recently moved into specialist care after returning to the United States following a leg amputation. The Philippine inquiry began after Thomas Markle Jr.

1:09 told authorities he had found suspected child sexual abuse material while looking for a phone among belongings at his father's former home in Cebu. He told The Sun he had found hundreds, if not thousands, of images describing what he came across as an unbelievably amount of stuff. He said the material was mixed in with family mementos and alleged that some images showed children engaged in sex acts. When I found this material, I was horrified, and I had no option but to report my dad, Markle Jr. told The Sun. Markle Jr. contacted the FBI in July, according to the New York Post, which also reported that he alerted the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, He later handed boxes of material to Philippine authorities. It was reported that investigators were examining about 7,500 images of minors on devices allegedly belonging to Markle Sr. Cebu detectives said they had found explicit content, including footage of male and female minors. According to the Daily Mail, ownership of the devices remained part of the inquiry. Philippine Interior Secretary Ionvich Remula previously described Markle Sr. as a possible sex offender.

2:17 of the grossest kind. The Daily Mail said it alerted the FBI after its reporters were given access to a storage unit near Rosarito, Mexico, that it said Markle Sr. had rented in 2017 and left behind when he moved to the Philippines. The newspaper reported finding suspected child sexual abuse material among personal belongings. Markle Sr. disputed the link, telling the newspaper, I had no storage units in Rosarito. The newspaper reported that Mexican investigators subsequently searched the unit and seized a computer, USB drives, VHS tapes and magazines. A search warrant obtained by the Daily Mail referred to evidence consisting of child sexual abuse material and the alleged commission of the crime of human trafficking in its aggravated form.

3:00 The warrant set out what Mexican authorities were investigating. The supplied reports identify no trafficking charge. The search shall be conducted exclusively for the purpose of searching for, locating, and securing evidence consisting of child sexual abuse material that may be in printed form as well as USB memory devices and memory cards for photographic cameras and cellular telephones, the warrant stated. The search shall also seek to locate all communication devices, including cellular telephones, laptops, computers, tablets, or any other electronic devices, on which videos containing explicit sexual content may be stored. Markle Jr. also said he told the FBI about two storage units in Los Angeles, The son reported that agents were expected to search the units. The supplied reports identify no material recovered from either location. I dread to think what the FBI might find, especially given what has already been found in the Philippines and Mexico, Markle Jr. told the son. Markle Sr. has described the allegations as sick lies. In an October interview with the Daily Mail, he said, I'm shocked, I'm hurt, and I'm very upset that my son is making these accusations against me.

4:09 I could never do what I'm being accused of. It's the worst thing anyone could accuse me of. This is bullshit. I have no idea why Tom is trying to destroy me with these lies. Markle Sr. acknowledged paying for sex in the Philippines but denied having sex with anyone under age. He told the Daily Mail, I never had sex with anyone under the age of 18. I like Asian women, but that is not a crime. His daughter, Samantha Markle, called the allegations unsubstantiated. She told the Daily Mail, There is no merit in these disgusting allegations whatsoever, and my brother is disgusting for making them up. He wants to destroy our dad. Shame on him. Samantha told Dan Wooten outspoken that her brother was seeking revenge after their father allegedly stopped supporting him financially. Her partner, Mark Phillips, told Page Six, I will say one thing, it's bullshit, and claimed Michael Jr. had sold the dad out with the lies before. More Palace in just a moment. Meghan Markle had addressed the allegations against her father in a statement last month. She said British police had shared an earlier letter about her father with her and that she had kept him from having contact with Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet to protect them. She has been estranged from her father since around the time of her 2018 wedding to Prince Harry. I am deeply distressed at the news that has come to light in the last 24 hours and my thoughts are with any children who may have been harmed, she told Us Weekly. In 2018, a letter was sent to the Metropolitan Police in royalty and specialist protection. The

5:40 letter was subsequently shared with me. It made troubling and disturbing allegations against my father, and I was given assurances that these were being investigated. I hope it can now be understood that, despite certain media publications' distortion over the years, any distance from my father and my choice to not allow him to have contact with our children was, for one reason, to protect them. I trusted that the authorities were doing the same for other families. Although the breadth of what has now been uncovered is more sickening than one could ever imagine, my sincerest hope is that justice will be fully served and that the priority remains the safety and protection of innocent children. The Daily Mail reported that Megan was shown the letter in 2019 and attributed it to Rosalind Loveless, Markle Sr. 's late former wife.

6:24 Loveless reportedly wrote, I questioned Thomas Sr. He denied accusations but stated that he went to the Philippines and Thailand because 12-year-olds are legal there. The statement about the law appears within Lovelace's account of what she alleges Markle told her. In an earlier statement to Us Weekly, a Metropolitan Police spokesperson said, We are aware of media reports that officers from the Met's Royalty and Specialist Protection Command were involved in the passing on of a letter in 2018. We are undertaking inquiries internally in an effort to confirm this. Prior to today's breaking news, there were reports that Samantha Markle spent several hours with her father at the Florida care facility. An observer described the visit to Radar Online as unusually long and said Samantha subsequently stopped commenting publicly on the allegations. The outlet reported that she brought food for her father and that her partner, Mark Phillips, had visited earlier. The report gave no details of what father and daughter discussed. Also prior to the breaking news, we learned Philippine authorities have named Thomas Markle Jr., Megan's half-brother, as a person of interest in the investigation. Ionvich Rumula, the Philippines' interior minister, said, We're determining if the son is involved. We have witnesses who say that underage girls were being brought to his house and we are following it up. Rumula also said witnesses also reported seeing ring lights through the windows. He said he was just making TikTok videos, but we checked his TikTok accounts and there

7:54 were no underage girls appearing in them, so he's a person of interest now. The Guardian quoted Rumula as saying, We're determining if the son is involved. There are signs that point that the son is involved in the crime as well, but only as a person of interest so far. Ramula described the images as the most deplorable displays of impunity towards sexual activity that I have ever seen. He has previously described Markle Sr. as a possible sex offender of the grossest kind. Philippine National Police Chief Jose Malencio Nates urged caution. It is not enough to simply come across some materials and immediately draw conclusions. to establish where these came from, who may be responsible, and whether Philippine laws were violated. And there you have it. I'm Mark Francis.

8:40 My thanks to John McDermott. This is Palace Entry.