Jeffrey Epstein accuser says Prince Andrew "knows what he's done"
Earlier this month, the billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein was found dead in his New York prison cell in an apparent suicide. He was facing charges of sex trafficking and conspiracy to traffic minors for sex and had already been jailed in 2008 for soliciting underage girls for prostitution. So what does Prince Andrew have to do with that, you might ask?
Allegations have swirled around Prince Andrew, AKA the Duke of York, and his friendship with Epstein for years. Speculation reached heady heights in recent weeks after new footage emerged showing the Prince inside Epstein’s mansion in 2010 – two years after he was first convicted.
Shortly afterwards, Buckingham Palace released a statement. It said: “The Duke of York has been appalled by the recent reports of Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged crimes. His Royal Highness deplores the exploitation of any human being and the suggestion he would condone, participate in or encourage any such behaviour is abhorrent.”
But accusations of a lack of judgement continue to dog the Prince, and lawyers for some of Epstein’s victims have said he should give sworn testimony revealing everything he knows about Epstein.
So, what is Prince Andrew actually supposed to have done?
In March 2011, it was reported that the Prince – father to Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie – was friends with American financier and convicted sex offender and paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. The pair were pictured strolling publicly, apparently deep in conversation. Multiple reports suggest Prince Andrew had asked Epstein to help Sarah Ferguson - former Duchess of York and the Prince’s ex-wife - to pay off her debts. Are you keeping up at the back?
Then, in the summer of that same year, Prince Andrew stood down as the UK’s trade ambassador after a woman, Virginia Roberts (now Giuffre), described sexual encounters she’d allegedly had with the Prince when she was 17 (in 2001). She alleged that these encounters had happened after she had been recruited as a sex slave by Jeffrey Epstein. It caused a media storm and the Duke reportedly cut all ties with Epstein.
Then, things went quiet. That was until January 2015, when a woman now known to be Virginia Giuffre alleged in court papers filed in Florida that she had been “sexually abused” by the Duke. She claimed she was paid £10,000 by Epstein as a reward for having sex with Prince Andrew at the home of a woman called Ghislaine Maxwell in 2001. However, in 2015 a court decided that the allegations made by Giuffre about the prince were “immaterial and impertinent” and ordered them to be struck out of a claim against Epstein.
Who is Ghislaine Maxwell?
Yet another character in this awful tale, you might have seen Ghislaine’s name discussed more feverishly in recent weeks, particularly with reference to Epstein. The daughter of disgraced media tycoon Robert Maxwell, she is reported to have been Epstein’s right-hand woman, and is thought to have recruited underage girls into Epstein’s sex-trafficking ring. Her name has resurfaced since Epstein’s suicide because she is now believed to be the best witness for his crimes and gatekeeper to the extremely powerful people who allegedly had sex with the women recruited into Epstein’s international sex ring. She denies any wrongdoing.
But back to Prince Andrew: that he met Virginia Giuffre isn’t in question, thanks to a grainy photograph of the two of them, the Prince’s arm wrapped around her waist. If you ask us, that pic alone looks pretty creepy. And who’s in the background, to the right of the pair? Ghislaine Maxwell.
Giuffre said that, having been recruited as a sex slave by Epstein when she was just 15, she visited London aged 17 and was told by Maxwell that they would have to go shopping for a dress because she was due to meet a Prince that night. Later, Epstein, Maxwell, Prince Andrew and Giuffre went for dinner. “Andrew was making eye contact with me at every chance and concentrating on my plunging V-neck top,” she told the Mail on Sunday.
After going to a nightclub, Giuffre alleges they returned to Maxwell’s flat where she and the Duke had sex. The Duke strongly denies that any sexual encounter took place. Giuffre claimed she had two subsequent sexual encounters with Prince Andrew – we’ll spare you the detail of the allegations, but it's safe to say they’re pretty grim. The Duke vehemently denies these allegations too. But the Prince’s statement doesn’t come anywhere near explaining his relationship with Virginia Giuffre and why he seems to have decided a convicted paedophile would make an appropriate friend. The allegations have never been tested in court.
Most recently, Giuffre made a public statement outside a hearing for alleged victims following Epstein's death, in which she said Prince Andrew should "come clean".
She went on to claim Prince Andrew "knows what he's done".
A few days prior to Virginia Giuffre's continued accusations yesterday, Prince Andrew released a lengthy statement of his own, in which he continued to deny any wrongdoing. He said he wanted to "clarify the facts" surrounding his links to Epstein "to avoid further speculation."
"I have stayed in a number of his residences. During the time I knew him, I saw him infrequently and probably no more than only once or twice a year. At no stage during the limited time I spent with him did I see, witness or suspect any behaviour of the sort that subsequently led to his arrest and conviction," continued Prince Andrew.
"I have said previously that it was a mistake and an error to see him after his release in 2010 and I can only reiterate my regret that I was mistaken to think that what I thought I knew of him was evidently not the real person, given what we now know."
So why has all of this come up again now?
Over the years, Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell faced many civil lawsuits from women who allege they were victims of Epstein’s. Most of these were settled, and the details remain undisclosed. But on 6 July 2019, Epstein was arrested on criminal charges for sex trafficking minors in Florida and New York. He was charged on 8 July with sex trafficking and conspiracy to traffic minors for sex and was due to face justice when he was found dead in his jail cell. Now, the spotlight is on known associates of Epstein, including Ghislaine Maxwell and Prince Andrew, who some believe may hold the keys to unlocking the true depths of his depravity.
What’s Donald Trump got to do with it?
Epstein was also accused of procuring women for a coterie of wealthy, powerful and high-profile men and settled many cases out of court. One of those was Donald Trump. In April 2016, a Californian woman alleged that Trump and Epstein sexually assaulted her at parties in Epstein’s New York property in 1994, when she was just 13. The suit was dismissed by a judge but she filed two subsequent suits, the last of which was dropped on 4 November 2016, four days before Trump was elected president. Her lawyer said she had been threatened.
The Trump campaign denied that Trump was friends with Epstein, telling the New York Times, "Mr. Trump only knew Mr. Epstein socially as someone who would occasionally use the [Mar-a-Lago] club."
What happens next?
Epstein’s alleged victims are angry that they won’t get the opportunity to face him in court, that he won’t be punished for his crimes, and that justice will never be done. But US authorities have said they will continue to investigate Epstein’s alleged actions and on Monday, US Attorney General said the case will continue “against anyone who was complicit with Epstein.”
So, the truth may still come out.
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