Prince Andrew has given ‘zero cooperation’ in Jeffrey Epstein sex crime investigation, federal prosecutors say
Britain’s embattled Prince Andrew has given “zero cooperation” to federal authorities with their ongoing investigation of people who enabled the crimes of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, his former friend, a top prosecutor said Monday.
U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman said that Andrew, a son of Queen Elizabeth II, has not followed through on a public offer he made in November to help investigators with probes of the wealthy Epstein.
Berman spoke to reporters outside of Epstein’s luxurious townhouse on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, the site of many of his alleged misdeeds.
Berman previously has said that his office is investigating possible co-conspirators of Epstein, who killed himself in August in jail while awaiting trial on child sex trafficking charges.
“To date Prince Andrew has provided zero cooperation,” Berman said.
“Jeffrey Epstein couldn’t have done what he did without the assistance of others, and I can assure you that the investigation is moving forward,” he said.
In addition to Andrew, Epstein’s former friends included Presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton.
He pleaded guilty in 2008 to Florida state charges, which included paying for sexual services from an underage girl. He had served 13 months in jail in that case, but was allowed out on work release for hours each day.
In the recent case, filed in July in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, Epstein was accused of sexually abusing dozens of underage girls from 2002 through 2005 at his homes in Manhattan and Palm Beach, Florida. Prosecutors have said a number of unidentified people facilitated Epstein’s abuse.
Three months after Epstein’s death in custody — which remains the subject of multiple investigations — Andrew gave a disastrous interview with the BBC in November about his relationship with the investor.
The Duke of York, among other things, denied having sex years ago with one of Epstein’s accusers, Virginia Giuffre, as she has claimed.
He claimed that was incapable of sweating, as Giuffre described him doing when they were dancing at a London night club.
Giuffre has said that she was directed to have sex with Andrew by Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime Epstein friend who has been accused of being a procurer of girls to satisfy his compulsive need for sexual services.
Andrew in the same interview also justified his decision to stay at Epstein’s house in New York City for four days in 2010 during a visit to end their friendship by saying it was “a convenient place to stay.”
On the heels of that interview, which was met with widespread criticism, Andrew announced that he was stepping back from public duties “for the forseeable future.”
But he also said at the time that he was willing to help law-enforcement authorities with investigations of Epstein.
“I continue to unequivocally regret my ill-judged association with Jeffrey Epstein,” Andrew said in his statement in November.
“His suicide has left many unanswered questions, particularly for his victims, and I deeply sympathise with everyone who has been affected and wants some form of closure,” the prince said.
“I can only hope that, in time, they will be able to rebuild their lives. Of course, I am willing to help any appropriate law enforcement agency with their investigations, if required.”
