Arrest of ‘pimp’ piles pressure on Andrew
PRESSURE was building yesterday on Prince Andrew to talk to US prosecutors after the arrest of billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged pimp.
Socialite Ghislaine Maxwell faces 35 years in jail after being charged with six counts, including procuring girls as young as 14 for disgraced financier Epstein.
The charges were brought after Australian mother Virginia Roberts Giuffre accused Maxwell and Epstein of forcing her to have sex with Prince Andrew when she was 17.
Audrey Strauss, acting US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said on Friday prosecutors wanted to talk to the Duke of York. “I will say we would welcome
Prince Andrew coming in to talk to us. We would like to have the benefit of his statement,” Ms Strauss said.
Celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred, who is representing several Epstein victims, also called on Prince Andrew to be interviewed by US authorities.
“It is long overdue for Prince Andrew to stop making excuses and to stop playing the victim,” she said.
The Duke has so far refused to give evidence about his relationship with Epstein despite the US Department of Justice (DOJ) formally requesting the British Home Office question him.
His lawyers said he was “bewildered” by the claim he had not co-operated with the investigation.
“We have twice communicated with the DOJ in the last month and to date we have had no response,” they said. Prince Andrew has previously disclosed that he and Epstein met in 1999, after Maxwell introduced them.
He has faced heated criticism for continuing the friendship until at least 2010 – after Epstein had served an 18-month jail term in Florida for soliciting prostitution with a minor.
Epstein was arrested again last July and charged with a string of sex offences. He committed suicide in a federal jail in New York last August at the age of 66.
Maxwell, 58, the daughter of disgraced British media mogul and fraudster Robert Maxwell, was arrested at a rural New Hampshire retreat she purchased in December for $1.55 million through a shell company.
FBI assistant director Bill
Sweeney said it had been “discreetly keeping tabs” on Maxwell’s location as its officers built their case over the past year. He said the arrest came after the FBI learned that she had “slithered away to a gorgeous property in New Hampshire, continuing to live a life of privilege”.
Maxwell appeared in a New York court via video and did not apply for bail after prosecutors argued she had “absolutely no reason to stay in the US” if freed. A detention memo said she had 15 bank accounts with up to $29 million.
Ms Strauss said: “Maxwell lied because the truth, as alleged, was almost unspeakable. Maxwell enticed young girls, got them to trust her, then delivered them into a trap that Epstein had set for them.”
The FBI indictment charged Maxwell with six counts, including conspiracy to entice minors, transporting minors and perjury.
They allege Maxwell groomed girls from 1994 until at least 1997 and that she and Epstein knew they were under 18. “In some instances, Maxwell was present for and participated in the sexual abuse of minor victims,” the indictment says.
The 18-page document lays out how Maxwell and Epstein, who were in a relationship at the time, allegedly befriended the young women by “taking them to the movies and shopping” before “normalising” sexual behaviour.
The indictment says the abuse took place at Epstein’s homes in New York, New Mexico, Palm Beach and at “Maxwell’s personal residence in London”.