ANDREW MAY STILL BE QUIZZED BY FBI
Pressure on prince to help probe into crimes of his sex abuser pals
PRINCE Andrew could still be dragged into the FBI’s probes into Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell and face being interviewed by investigators, legal experts say.
The Duke of York, who this week agreed a £12million settlement with Virginia Giuffre to avoid a civil sex abuse trial in the US, is still understood to be a “person of interest” to federal investigators probing his friends’ crimes.
Lawyer Dr Ann Olivarius, who specialises in cases of civil litigation and sexual harassment, said: “There are no guarantees for Prince Andrew.
“It may be the end of his dealings with Virginia Giuffre but if the US authorities want to speak to him they will continue to pursue him. It remains a huge diplomatic issue and so far Prince Andrew has not been cooperative.”
During his disastrous BBC’s
Newsnight interview in 2019, the Duke promised to cooperate with law enforcement but has so far stonewalled American investigators who want to interview him as a potential witness.
Dr Olivarius said: “We know in 20182019 he has been approached by the FBI and by police and asked to cooperate.
“It is in the written record that he has refused to do so. It is quite an extraordinary thing for a prince, from a country we have a special relationship with allegedly, not to cooperate with a criminal investigation.” She added: “It is arrogant, it is a slap in the face of the American judicial system and it doesn’t speak well for the monarchy.”
Maxwell, 60, a friend of Andrew’s for more than 30 years, was sentenced to 65 years in jail after being convicted last month of trafficking young girls for
Jeffrey Epstein, a billionaire paedophile who killed himself in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex charges. Maxwell is pinning her hopes on an appeal after a juror in the case gave media interviews after the trial, revealing details about the jury’s deliberations. Gloria Allred, who represents many of Epstein’s victims, said as part of Andrew’s promise to tackle the “evils of sex trafficking”, which was included in his settlement with Giuffre, he should agree to be interviewed by federal agents or his words would be “meaningless” and a “face-saving public relations gesture”. Despite agreeing the settlement, Andrew denies Giuffre’s allegations that she was forced to have sex with him in 2001 when she was 17.