Prince Andrew won't voluntarily cooperate in Epstein inquiry, prosecutor says
Despite
public offer to help with investigation Andrew has ‘completely shut the door’,
and New York attorney general is now considering other options
Martin
Pengelly and Kenya Evelyn in New York and Caroline Davies
Mon 9 Mar
2020 18.19 GMTFirst published on Mon 9 Mar 2020 16.51 GMT
Prince
Andrew has “completely shut the door” on cooperating with US investigators in
the Jeffrey Epstein case and they are now “considering” further options, a New
York prosecutor said on Monday.
Andrew was
a friend of Epstein, the wealthy financier and convicted sex offender whose
death in custody while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges in New York
last year was ruled a suicide.
Andrew
denies all claims of sexual misconduct relating to the Epstein case but has
stepped back from public duties as a result of his connection to it.
Speaking to
reporters on Monday, the Manhattan US attorney Geoffrey Berman said: “Contrary
to Prince Andrew’s very public offer to cooperate with our investigation into
Epstein’s co-conspirators, an offer that was conveyed via press release, Prince
Andrew has now completely shut the door on voluntary cooperation and our office
is considering its options.”
In
November, Andrew said he was “willing to help any appropriate law enforcement
agency with their investigations if required”.
Berman made
a similar claim in January, which former sex crimes prosecutors told the
Guardian was most likely a move designed to win political support for the
investigation.
Buckingham
Palace said then it would not comment and the matter was being dealt with by
the prince’s legal team. Contacted on Monday, a Palace spokeswoman said: “The
issue is being dealt with by the Duke of York’s legal team.”
Buckingham
Palace has consistently refused to reveal any details of Andrew’s legal team
but the Duke has reportedly hired Clare Montgomery, a senior barrister at
Matrix Chambers, whose clients have included Augusto Pinochet, Chile’s former
dictator, and Shrien Dewani, charged with and acquitted of murdering his wife
in South Africa. She also prosecuted the Metropolitan police over the death of
Jean Charles de Menezes, shot dead in a failed anti-terror operation.
Andrew has
been accused of having sex with a young woman provided by Epstein, a claim he
categorically denies.
In a
December interview with the BBC, the accuser, Virginia Giuffre, now 35, called
Andrew’s denial “BS”.
“He knows
what happened,” she said. “I know what happened, and there’s only one of us
telling the truth, and I know that’s me.”
The
Guardian has reported that according to flight logs, Andrew was among nine
people on Epstein’s plane for a trip from the US Virgin Islands to Florida in
February 1999.
A lawsuit
filed by the US territory’s attorney general in January cites new evidence that
Epstein “held captive underage girls” there as recently as 2018.
Montgomery
declined to comment to an inquiry from the Guardian. She is reportedly briefed
by Gary Bloxsome, a criminal defence solicitor who has defended British troops
against war crime allegations. It has been reported he was appointed directly
by Andrew, though this has not been confirmed by the palace.
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