New Pressure on Prince Andrew to Help Epstein Investigation
increased
Tuesday after the revelation by U.S. authorities that he has failed to
cooperate with the FBI's investigation into his ties with the late
convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Lawyer Lisa Bloom, who represents five of Epstein's alleged sexual
trafficking victims, said Tuesday that it's time for Andrew "to stop
playing games and to come forward to do the right thing and answer
questions."
Bloom said her clients were "outraged and disappointed at Prince Andrew's behavior."
Andrew remained out of the public eye Tuesday. Buckingham Palace and his
legal team maintained a "no comment" policy one day after U.S. Attorney
Geoffrey Berman said Andrew has provided "zero cooperation" to the FBI
and the U.S. prosecutors seeking to speak with him about Epstein.
The statement Monday by Berman, the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan,
was the first official confirmation that the leading U.S. law
enforcement agency had sought — and failed — to obtain evidence from
Andrew, third child of Queen Elizabeth II, despite his pledge in
November that he would cooperate with legitimate law enforcement
agencies.
The U.S. decision to make the 59-year-old prince's silence public may be
part of a strategy to increase public calls for him to cooperate.
Andrew is being sought for
questioning as a witness who may be able to shed light on the illegal
activities of Epstein, who died in a New York prison in August while
awaiting trial on sexually abusing teenage girls. There's no indication
that U.S. officials are pursuing criminal charges against the prince.
The FBI only has limited ways to try to convince Andrew to give evidence.
U.S. officials have not provided details, so it's not clear if the FBI
made an informal request through Andrew's lawyers or went through formal
police channels, which if successful would have led to an interview
conducted by U.K. police, possibly with an FBI agent present.
"They can't compel him to do any of those things," said British lawyer
Ben Keith, a specialist in extradition and law enforcement. "The next
stage after that is to issue a formal Mutual Legal Assistance Request,
which would go through the Foreign Office and be dealt with in the court
system."
That could lead, Keith said, to the prince giving evidence via video link to U.S. investigators.
Andrew has been accused by a woman who says that she had several sexual
encounters with the prince at Epstein's behest, starting when she was
17.
Virginia Roberts Giuffre says after meeting Epstein as a teenager in
Florida in 2000, he flew her around the world and pressured her into
having sex with numerous older men, including Andrew, two senior U.S.
politicians, a noted academic, and the attorney Alan Dershowitz, who is
now part of President Donald Trump's impeachment defense team.
Giuffre has said she had sex with Andrew three times, including once in
London in 2001 at the home of Epstein's girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell.
Giuffre claims that she was paid by Epstein for her sexual encounters.
Andrew and Dershowitz have denied any wrongdoing. But the royal family
forced Andrew to step down from his royal duties and charity patronages
in November after giving a disastrous television interview in which he
defended his friendship with Epstein and failed to express sympathy for
the girls and women who Epstein abused.
Andrew is also being pursued by several lawyers representing Epstein
victims who are pushing civil suits against Epstein's estate.
Those lawyers could choose to bring their request to a British high
court, seeking to have an examiner take a statement from Andrew or
pursue other ways to obtain his evidence. So far they are only making
public calls for him to make himself available and threatening to
subpoena Andrew if he travels to the U.S.
The complex legal situation may make Andrew reluctant to visit the U.S.,
where his evidence is sought on both criminal and civil cases, but
lawyers say it's unlikely to restrict his travel to other countries.
New York criminal defense lawyer Ron Kuby says it's unlikely the prince
will ever voluntarily agree to an interview and said the FBI doesn't
have the means to force him to.
"The likelihood of him participating is very, very small," Kuby said.
"Why would he? The last time Prince Andrew spoke on the relevant topic
he was yanked from public life and universally ridiculed."
Andrew, eighth in line to the throne, has been seen at occasional royal
family events since November but has not commented on Epstein since his
TV interview backfired.
VOA
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