Prince pressured to talk to U.S. on Epstein
LONDON — Britain’s disgraced Prince Andrew is facing mounting calls to provide information to U.S. law enforcement agencies and to lawyers who are investigating crimes committed by American sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his associates.
Lawyers for Epstein’s victims believe Andrew may have valuable information about the late financier’s sex offenses. When Epstein died in August, he was facing charges of trafficking in underage girls who provided sexual favors to the powerful men visiting his luxury properties in the Caribbean, and elsewhere.
The 59-year-old prince stepped down from his royal duties Wednesday with the approval of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, after a weekend interview in which he tried to justify his well-documented ties to Epstein backfired spectacularly.
Andrew still may face legal questioning about allegations that he had sex with a girl provided by Epstein when she was just 17, a charge he has denied and that she insists is true.
U.S. attorney Gloria Allred, who represents some of the women abused by Epstein, said Thursday that Andrew should contact American authorities “without conditions and without delay.”
Andrew announced in his statement Wednesday that he is “willing to help any appropriate law enforcement agency with their investigations, if required” but did not volunteer to provide evidence.
It is not clear if U.S. authorities are investigating Andrew for any possible wrongdoing. Many of the court papers related to the Epstein case are still sealed and unavailable to the public.
British legal experts, meanwhile, are divided over whether Andrew enjoys immunity from prosecution as a senior British royal.
Some say Andrew should to reach out to U.S. officials in an effort clear his name rather than wait for a subpoena or legal action that would force him to testify, which could happen if U.S. officials working through the U.S. Embassy in London ask Britain’s Foreign Office to secure Andrew’s cooperation.
British lawyer Mark Stephens said Andrew will eventually have to testify under oath to answer Virginia Giuffre’s charge that she was encouraged to have sex with Andrew three times when she was 17.
Stephens said it was doubtful that Andrew could provide useful evidence on other cases related to Epstein’s crimes, which have led to a number of civil suits against his estate.
“There are much better witnesses,” he said. “What could he say that couldn’t be said by witnesses that went more frequently, the staff at any of his homes for example, and the people close to him, the fixers? Those are the people with really probative evidence.”
Epstein, 66, died on Aug. 10 while in jail on sex-trafficking charges in what New York’s medical examiner ruled was a suicide.
In his interview with the BBC on Saturday, Andrew denied having sex with Giuffre, saying he didn’t remember meeting her despite a published photograph that appears to show the prince with his arm around her.
He said he regrets not cutting ties with Epstein, but the prince notably failed to express any sympathy for Epstein’s victims.