‘I want you to do for Andy what you do for Epstein’
What accuser claims Maxwell’s daughter told her when she met prince... as she labels royal ‘a participant’ in first TV interview
THE woman who claims she was told to have sex with Prince Andrew last night gave new details of her alleged encounter with the Duke of York after a night out in London.
In her strongest comments to date, Virginia Roberts also alleged that beforehand she was told by Ghislaine Maxwell: ‘I want you to do for him what you do for [Jeffrey] Epstein.’
Miss Roberts, who was a teenager at the time, said that Andrew was a ‘participant’, adding that even though the duke may deny it ‘he knows the truth and I know the truth’.
The prince has always denied any inappropriate behaviour or being aware of any such behaviour from Epstein, and in 2015 her allegations about Andrew were thrown out by a US judge who ordered them struck out as ‘immaterial and impertinent’.
She appeared on the US TV network
‘The denial is both specific and categoric’
NBC yesterday with five other Epstein accusers to demand justice after his suicide last month while awaiting trial. That means civil actions against the paedophile financier’s estate and criminal cases against his alleged co-conspirators including Miss Maxwell, 57, the British socialite who was allegedly his madam.
In her first broadcast interview, she repeated her claim that she was loaned out to Andrew for sex in March 2001 when she was 17 after Epstein flew her to the London townhouse owned by Miss Maxwell, the daughter of disgraced newspaper tycoon Robert Maxwell. She was photographed there with Andrew and Miss Maxwell.
At the time, Miss Roberts had been in Epstein’s orbit for months and was being paid to have sex with him at his command. She claimed in court documents that she was loaned out to his friends.
Miss Roberts – now a 36-year-old married mother- of-three called Virginia Roberts Giuffre – said: ‘That first time in London I was so young. Ghislaine woke me up in the morning and said you’re going to meet a prince today. I didn’t know at that point I was going to be trafficked to that prince.
‘That night Prince Andrew came to her house and we went out to Club Tramp. Prince Andrew got me alcohol, it was in the VIP section, I’m pretty sure it was vodka. Prince Andrew was like let’s dance together, I was like OK.
‘We leave Club Tramp and Ghislaine said he’s coming back to the house and I want you to do for him what you do for Epstein. I couldn’t believe it’. Miss Roberts, who wiped away tears during the interview, said that after sex in the bathroom ‘he wasn’t rude or anything, he said thank you and some kind of soft sentiments like that and left’.
She said: ‘I just couldn’t believe it, I couldn’t believe that even royalty were involved.’ Miss Roberts has also claimed that Andrew had sex with her in New York and on Epstein’s private island in the Carribean. She said: ‘He denies that it ever happened but he knows the truth and I know the truth’.
Last night friends of Andrew spoke of their frustration that the claims, which the duke has consistently denied, were being aired again. The friends believe they are being ‘goaded’ into making a fresh public statement. Instead, they are sticking to their denial.
A friend said: ‘The denial is both specific and categoric. There never has been any sexual connection between Andrew and Virginia Roberts. It would have been immoral for the duke to have been involved with someone so young. It is very difficult for him to prove a negative. The duke feels deeply sorry for these girls. They are victims.’
In the interview Miss Roberts also rejected the idea that her pursuit of Epstein’s alleged coconspirators was about money.
Epstein, 66, was found hanged on August 10 in his cell in New York while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
Among the other women who appeared in the TV interview were Rachel Benavidez, Jennifer Araoz and Marijke Chartouni. Miss Araoz alleges that Epstein abused her from the age of 14 while Miss Chartouni, a model, says he assaulted her in his New York mansion. Miss Benavidez did not speak on TV.
The other two were Chauntae Davies, the hostess of Epstein’s private jet known as the ‘Lolita Express’, and Anouska de Georgiou, a British actress who claims he abused her for several years.
In a statement to NBC, Buckingham Palace said: ‘It is emphatically denied that the Duke of York had any form of sexual contact or relationship with Virginia Roberts. Any claim to the contrary is false and without foundation.’
Miss Maxwell has denied all accusations of improper behaviour.