US lawyer says Duke’s reticence over Epstein case ‘traumatising’
BY CHRISTOPHER BUCKTIN in Bradford, New Hampshire
PRINCE Andrew is subjecting victims of paedophile Jeffrey Epstein to a “torture test” by withholding information on the investigation, a US lawyer says.
Audrey Strauss, the acting US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, asked of Prince Andrew: “When is he going to tell what he knows? He needs to do that. He needs to do it without delay.
“It is so traumatising and difficult for the victims not to know the truth. This kind of torture test that Prince Andrew is subjecting the victims to, like will he or won’t he give a statement, if he will, when?”
She spoke out after British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell was arrested on Thursday at her £860,000 home in Bradford, New Hampshire and charged with sexual offences against minors.
Maxwell, 58, is accused of procuring three underage girls for Epstein to have sex with between 1994 and 1997, and engaging in sexual activity with them herself. She denies the claims.
The socialite, a long-term friend of Andrew, 60, was said to have been around the night Epstein’s “teenage sex slave” Virginia Giuffre claims she had sex with the prince in London in March 2001.
Giuffre said she cried “tears of joy” at news of Maxwell’s arrest.
Andrew and his legal team vehemently deny her allegations.
Attorney Brad Edwards, who represents 55 women, said he believes the prince is “deliberately evading authorities”.
He added: “There’s clients who are familiar with the fact that he was around and, you know, they’re familiar with the evidence.
“They know that he was on the flight logs. They know that he was in Ghislaine’s apartment with Virginia Roberts [Giuffre].
“These are things that he should be, you know, kind of owning up to.
“The fact that he is not is very frustrating to the victims.”
Andrew’s legal team said: “The Duke of York has offered his assistance to the Department of Justice investigation on a number of occasions this year.
“In addition, the working group have proactively contacted the DoJ twice in the last month and have received no response.
“That is why we remain utterly bewildered by the DoJ’s approach.
“A request from a commercial law firm is not and never will be the same as an official judicial process.” Epstein’s former mentor Steven Hoffenberg claimed Maxwell was “fully cooperating” with the FBI and said that some of the world’s most powerful people may be “very worried”.
Yesterday, US president Donald Trump’s son Eric tweeted a photo of Maxwell with former US leader Bill Clinton. He captioned it: “Birds of a feather.”
But the tweet blew up in his face when thousands began replying with numerous pictures of his father with Maxwell.
The socialite is being held without bail in New Hampshire and is expected to appear in a New York court either today or Monday.
Our man Chris at Maxwell’s New Hampshire home
BRAD EDWARDS LAWYER, ON PRINCE ANDREW