Andrew ‘daren’t go back to America’
Worry: The prince is said to fear being drawn into civil proceedings against Jeffrey Epstein’s estate as a witness
THE Duke of York has told friends he fears never being able to return to the US with the Jeffrey Epstein case hanging over his head.
Andrew has not set foot in the country since early 2017 and sources say plans to launch a business initiative there later this year have been put on ice.
According to the Mail’s sources, the prince is concerned about being drawn into civil proceedings brought by some of paedophile Epstein’s many victims.
At least five women who say they were abused by the financier have filed lawsuits against his £458million estate after he was found hanged in his New York prison cell on August 10 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
Since Epstein’s arrest last month, Andrew has been trying to distance himself from his old friend, declaring himself ‘appalled’ by reports of the ‘alleged crimes’.
But the efforts have been undermined by the emergence of details of how he hosted the paedophile at Balmoral, and by pictures of the royal at Epstein’s New York mansion in 2010 – two years after the banker had been convicted of sex with a child.
The insider told the Mail: ‘Andrew has openly said he can’t see how he can go back to the US at the moment with everything that is going on.
‘I know this is a source of enormous frustration for him as it is one of his favourite places in the world to go.’ The source said that the prince had held ‘high hopes’ of taking his successful Pitch@Palace scheme – a Dragons’ Den-style initiative for entrepreneurs – to the States in the next year or so.
It something he is believed to have raised when US President Donald Trump – another former friend of Epstein – came to the UK for his state visit earlier this year.
The two men had already met when Mr Trump threw a private lunch for Andrew at Trump Tower on a visit to New York in September 2006.
But the source added: ‘Plans to take Pitch to the US have definitely been put on ice for the time being. Andrew is very disappointed as he has long been very keen to get a foothold out there with it.’
Andrew’s friendship with Epstein goes back to least 1999. In 2000 the financier and his ex-girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, the daughter of the late newspaper tycoon Robert Maxwell, were invited by Andrew to a party at Windsor Castle thrown by the Queen.
Miss Maxwell, also a friend of Andrew, has been accused by some of Epstein’s victims of being his ‘procurer’, a charge she denies.
Epstein and Miss Maxwell were also guests of Andrew at the Queen’s Sandringham and Balmoral Estates and holidayed with him in Florida and Thailand.
In 2011 Andrew was forced to quit as a UK trade envoy after being pictured meeting Epstein after his release from a child sex jail term.
Andrew travelled to the States twice on official business in 2013, taking in Florida, California and New York but there was no publicly-recorded trip in either 2014, 2015 or 2016. He visited again in May 2017, travelling around California, but has not gone back since and has no plans to go for the foreseeable future.
One of the women who have filed lawsuits against Epstein’s estate – Virginia Roberts, now Giuffre – has also claimed she was forced by Epstein to have sex with Andrew on three occasions between 1999 and 2001 when she was under-age.
The allegations, first made in 2015, were officially struck from the court records by a judge, who ruled they were ‘immaterial’, and there is no suggestion Andrew has anything to personally fear in respect of those allegations.
But sources close to the royal say he appears to be sufficiently concerned about being at being forced to co-operate over other allegations against Epstein not to travel back to the US.
Just days ago Miss Roberts’s lawyer Brad Edwards urged the prince to co-operate in order to help the victims of Epstein secure justice. He said: ‘I look forward to co-ordinating a formal deposition where he will be given the opportunity to tell us everything he knows.’
US legal experts say that if Andrew is considered to have information relevant to any of the civil proceedings, someone might want to ‘depose’ him – ask him to give a statement.
It is also possible he could also be considered a witness in any criminal proceedings surrounding Epstein’s death.
Lawyers say it would be difficult to force him to go to the US to give evidence but, if he were to set foot in the country, he could be subpoenaed for his testimony.
In response to the Mail’s story, Buckingham Palace said: ‘We would not comment on alleged conversations or the speculative premise behind the question but
‘Andrew is very disappointed’
would point out that the case you are referring to relates to proceedings in the United States, to which the Duke of York is not a party. Any suggestion of impropriety with under-age minors is categorically untrue.
‘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.’
A source said that when working as Special Representative for International Trade and Investment between 2001 and 2011, Andrew was asked to travel regularly to the US.
Since relinquishing this role in 2011, they maintained Andrew had continued to travel to the US, but claimed that his focus, particularly with Pitch@Palaces, had been on ‘other markets’.