Did Prince And rew lobby White House for Epstein?
Court papers claim royal pleaded to get friend deal in child sex case
PRINCE Andrew has been accused of lobbying the US authorities to ensure his friend Jeffrey Epstein was given a ‘favourable’ plea deal when accused of child sex crimes.
The claim is contained in newly-unsealed court documents which reveal how two unnamed victims of the paedophile financier suggested Prince Andrew intervened in the 2008 case against Epstein.
Named only as Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2, the pair suggest the Queen’s second son was among powerful friends who helped Epstein receive a reduced prison sentence.
The allegations were made as the two women appealed for the release of documents which they said would prove Andrew’s involvement, but which those close to him completely refute.
‘(They are) seeking documents regarding Epstein’s lobbying efforts to persuade the government to give him a favourable plea arrangement, including efforts on his behalf by Prince Andrew and former Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz,’ lawyers for the pair wrote.
‘They have alleged these materials are needed to prove their allegations that, after Epstein signed the non-prosecution agreement, his performance was delayed while he used his significant social and political connections to lobby the justice department to obtain a more favourable plea deal.’
Epstein, who committed suicide a year ago while in custody over new child sex charges, pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor for prostitution in 2008 as part of a controversial ‘sweetheart deal’ with officials in Florida.
The paedophile tycoon served just 18 months in jail and was allowed out on work release for 12 hours a day, six days a week, during which time he allegedly continued to abuse his victims at his mansion in Palm Beach.
Last night, any suggestion the prince had sought to intervene was dismissed by his supporters, with one asking, ‘where’s the proof?’ as another described it as a ‘speculative fishing expedition’. Asked to comment specifically on the lobbying claims, a friend of the Duke of York added: ‘This allegation is a straightforward untruth. No ifs, no buts.’
The Does’ request was part of a trove of documents relating to Epstein’s former lover and alleged madam, Ghislaine Maxwell, which were released by a court in New York yesterday.
Amounting to 643 pages, they are part of a 2015 civil defamation lawsuit brought against Epstein and British socialite Maxwell, 58, by Virginia Roberts, who claims she was forced to sleep with Prince Andrew and others by Epstein when she was 17. The case was settled by Maxwell in 2017 for an undisclosed sum.
The duke has strenuously denied the allegations against him. A friend of Andrew’s told the Mail last night: ‘The US Federal Appeals court said in 2019 these allegations should be treated with extreme “caution”.
‘Allegations are not the same as facts... Let’s see if these allegations stand up, because precious few about the duke do. Where’s the proof?’
According to yesterday’s documents, Maxwell abused underage girls and joined Epstein in directing Ms Roberts, now Giuffre, to be abused by others. She was arrested last month on these allegations, which she denies – and faces a possible sentence of 35 years if convicted.
In the documents, Ms Roberts is quoted as saying Maxwell ‘trained me as her sex slave’, and that: ‘You have to understand that Jeffrey and Ghislaine are joined hip by hip, okay? So they both trafficked me. She was just as a part of it as he was.’
In another statement, Ms Roberts was asked by her lawyers if Prince Andrew would have ‘relevant information’ that could help investigators, to which she said he ‘might be valuable’ and added: ‘Yes, he would know a lot of the truth.’
The lawyers said: ‘Epstein instructed [Ms Roberts] to give Prince Andrew whatever he demanded and required her to report back to him on the details of the sexual abuse.’
The papers said Epstein ‘sexually trafficked the then minor, making her available for sex to politically connected and financially powerful people, to ingratiate himself with them for business, personal, political and financial gain’ and for ‘potential blackmail information’.
Prince Andrew claims he met Epstein in 1999 and saw him a few times a year at his properties in New York and the Virgin Islands, but cut ties with him in 2010 after his release from jail.