Andrew the hypocrite
Epstein victims blast Prince’s refusal to talk as he hires PR from ‘VIP abuse’ probe
Prince Andrew was accused of being a hypocrite yesterday after claims he had ‘completely shut the door’ on co-operating with US investigators over the Jeffrey epstein scandal.
Gloria Allred, a lawyer representing five victims of the late paedophile financier, attacked the prince for going back on his claim that he would help the US authorities.
She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘I just think this is all hypocritical on the part of Prince Andrew. And I just think that this drip, drip, drip – essentially a torture chamber where he suggests he will speak to them, that he won’t speak to them, then there will be conditions, and now he is shutting the door – does nothing but to inflict more pain and more suffering on the victims.’
It came as it emerged that Andrew has hired the PR man who advised VIPs wrongly accused of child abuse to boost his reputation.
The prince’s original pledge to engage with investigators came in an interview with BBC’s Newsnight in November, when he said he would give a statement or testify under oath. he said: ‘If push came to shove and the legal advice was to do so, then I would be duty bound to do so.’
But on Monday, US attorney Geoffrey Berman launched an extraordinary attack on the prince, accusing him of refusing to speak to US investigators.
he fired a similar broadside in January over Andrew’s alleged refusal to engage with the FBI.
Mr Berman, a senior New york prosecutor, said on Monday that
Andrew has ‘completely shut the door’ on co-operating voluntarily with US investigators. In a statement which raised the possibility of a transatlantic legal battle, he said US authorities are now ‘considering’ further options.
yesterday it emerged Andrew’s team of advisers includes PR guru Mark Gallagher, whose clients have included those wrongly accused of child abuse by Carl Beech – known as ‘Nick’ – including the wife of the late Lord Brittan.
he is also being advised by extradition expert Clare Montgomery QC, who fought to keep Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet from facing justice. epstein killed himself last August while in custody in New york awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
The Queen’s second son, who was friends with the financier, denies all claims of sexual misconduct relating to the case but stepped back from public duties after the Newsnight interview backfired spectacularly.
Andrew has categorically denied knowing that epstein was sexually abusing teenage girls.
he has also strenuously denied claims made by Virginia Roberts that she was forced to have sex with him on three occasions. The pair were photographed together in the Belgravia home of Ghislaine Maxwell, epstein’s ex-girlfriend.