Prince Andrew a ‘person of interest’ for prosecutors in Epstein investigation, report says
Royal was sued in US federal court last week for alleged sexual abuse
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Your support makes all the difference.Prince Andrew is a “person of interest” for prosecutors in the Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein investigation, a report says.
Officials in the United States want to interview the Queen’s son about his friendship with the late sex offender as they investigate potential co-conspirators, according to Reuters.
Andrew, 61, is viewed as at least a potential witness in the investigation, sources told the news outlet.
It comes just a week after an alleged victim of Epstein sued Andrew in a US court for alleged sex abuse.
Virginia Giuffre claims that the Queen’s 61-year-old son sexually abused her at Epstein’s New York mansion and two other places when she was under the age of 18.
Ms Giuffre filed her case in New York federal court just days before the expiration date of a state law that allows alleged victims of childhood sexual abuse to file claims that would otherwise be prevented by statutes of limitations.
Buckingham Palace and Prince Andrew have both strongly denied any wrongdoing.
The Independent has reached out to Buckingham Palace for comment, while Prince Andrew’s legal team said they had no comment to make.
While Andrew may be a person of interest for investigators, the office of the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York does not anticipate being able to interview him anytime soon.
“He doesn’t seem to want to talk to us,” the source told Reuters.
Epstein killed himself in a New York prison cell in 2019, while awaiting trial for sex trafficking.
Ghislaine Maxwell has pleaded not guilty to charges that she procured teenage girls for Epstein to sexually abuse between 1994 and 2004.
Her trial is expected to take place in November.
Prince Andrew gave an interview to the BBC in November 2019 in which he denied Ms Giuffre’s allegations.
In it he claimed that a 2001 photograph, in which he had his arm around the then-17-year-old’s waist, might have been doctored.
“I don’t believe that photograph was taken in the way that has been suggested,” he said.
“I think it’s, from the investigations that we’ve done, you can’t prove whether or not that photograph is faked or not, because it is a photograph of a photograph of a photograph. So it’s very difficult to be able to prove it, but I don’t remember that photograph ever being taken.”
He also said that he had an alibi for the date in question, when the photo was allegedly taken by Epstein at the London home of Ms Maxwell.
“I was at home. I was with the children, and I’d taken Beatrice to a Pizza Express in Woking for a party at, I suppose, sort of 4 or 5 in the afternoon,” he said.
“And then, because the Duchess was away, we have a simple rule in the family that when one is away the other one is there. I was on terminal leave at the time from the Royal Navy, so therefore I was at home.”
Last week Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick said London police were reviewing its files but not opening an investigation into Prince Andrew.