In a new phase of a scandal that has rolled for months, American authorities have demanded Prince Andrew be handed over for questioning as a witness in the Jeffrey Epstein case, according to reports.
Prosecutors, various outlets report, made the request via the British government as part of their probe into Epstein’s sordid past. Epstein, facing charges of sex trafficking, was found dead from suicide in his Manhattan jail cell in August 2019. Currently, he is the subject of an expansive documentary series on Netflix titled: Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich.
Prince Andrew is not accused by U.S. authorities of any crime, but he had a friendship with Epstein as well as with Ghislaine Maxwell, a British socialite often described as Epstein’s former girlfriend. Virginia Giuffre, a key Epstein accuser, has said she was forced by Epstein to have sex with Prince Andrew. He vehemently denies the accusation. In an infamous photo that has long haunted the royal, he can be seen with his arm around Giuffre’s waist, with Maxwell also in the shot. Maxwell, accused by some Epstein victims of aiding the disgraced sex offender, has gone into hiding.
In March U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman had said his investigators were being blanked by Prince Andrew, who had previously indicated he would fully cooperate.
Legal experts had suggested Prince Andrew was remaining silent because the FBI had few options when it came to forcing his hand to comply. But NBC reports that the request has now been made under a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty between the U.S. and the U.K., known as an MLAT. U.K. tabloid the Sun reports that under the MLAT’s terms, Prince Andrew would not be interviewed as if he were a suspect, but rather as a witness.
“Contrary to Prince Andrew’s very public offer to cooperate with our investigation into Epstein’s co-conspirators, an offer that was conveyed via press release, Prince Andrew has now completely shut the door on voluntary cooperation,” Berman had said in January.
In an effort the same month to drum up publicity for his effort, Berman had stood outside Epstein’s old mansion in Manhattan and urged Prince Andrew to speak. He said the prince had offered “zero cooperation” despite being contacted by the Southern District of New York and the FBI. The Southern District has not offered comment on the new request, NBC reports.
Buckingham Palace previously said Prince Andrew’s legal team is dealing with the matter. He stepped away from official royal duties in the wake of the scandal; particularly damning was an interview he gave to the BBC, which saw him awkwardly deal with accusations from central Epstein accuser Giuffre.
Giuffre says she was trafficked by Epstein and forced to have sex with Prince Andrew and others when she was 17. He says he has no recollection of ever meeting her.
“He knows what happened. I know what happened, and there’s only one of us telling the truth, and I know that’s me,” Giuffre told BBC Panorama.
“I implore the citizens in the U.K. to stand up beside me, to help me fight this fight, to not accept this as being OK. This is not some sordid sex story. This is a story of being trafficked, this is a story of abuse and this is a story of your guys’ royalty.”
— with files from Reuters
Featured Image Credit: Mark Cuthbert/UK Press via Getty Images
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