His silence is a 'torture test' for Epstein's alleged victims, says lawyer
Ghislaine Maxwell, a long-time friend of Prince Andrew, 60, who introduced him to Epstein, is accused of helping the convicted paedophile by identifying, befriending and grooming victims as young as 14, allegations she has previously denied. It is alleged she also participated in the sexual abuse.
Maxwell has been charged with facilitating former boyfriend Epstein’s sexual exploitation of underage girls and remains in custody.
Gloria Allred, representing a number of the alleged victims, has demanded Prince Andrew “be a man”, “speak up” and stop “deliberately avoiding” US authorities.
US prosecutors have said they would “welcome” a statement from the royal in relation to the criminal investigation into Epstein’s alleged co-conspirators.
“He needs to do it without delay. It is so traumatising and difficult for the victims not to know the truth,” Allred told ITV’s Good Morning. “And this kind of torture test that Prince Andrew is subjecting the victims to, like he will or he won’t give a statement, if he will, when?”
Lisa Bloom, representing six women, also urged Andrew to come clean on what he witnessed while visiting Epstein’s homes in New York, Palm Beach, Florida and the US Virgin Islands. Brad Edwards, another of the alleged victims’ lawyers, said, “There’s no doubt he’s deliberately evading authorities.”
Blackfords, the London-based criminal law specialists, alleged the US Department of Justice (DoJ) had effectively rejected three offers of help volunteered by the prince this year.
On Friday, a source close to Andrew’s legal working group said, “The duke has offered his assistance to the DoJ investigation on a number of occasions this year. In addition, the working group have pro-actively contacted the DoJ twice in the last month and have received no response. That is why we remain utterly bewildered by the DoJ’s approach. However, a request from a commercial law firm is not and never will be the same as an official judicial process.”
The prime minister asserts the government had not been approached by the US authorities to interview Andrew.
“No such approach has been made and otherwise it really is a matter for the royal family,” he told LBC, declining to comment further.
The London mayor, Sadiq Khan, also urged the duke to co-operate.
“We shouldn’t lose sight of the fact of who the victims are, the victims were children at the time – vulnerable children, young women – and it’s really important that anybody who’s got information helps the FBI and that includes Prince Andrew as well,” he said.
Maxwell was arrested in a dawn raid on a 156-acre, $1m property called Tuckedaway in Bradford, New Hampshire on Thursday.
Her considerable wealth came to light in written court documents used by prosecutor deny her bail over fears she was a flight risk. It was claimed she had passports for three countries – the UK, the US and France – and more than 15 different bank accounts associated with her from 2016 until the present. They contained amounts from “hundreds of thousands of dollars to more than £20m.”
She is said to have transferred “hundreds of thousands of dollars” between these accounts, and had one or more foreign bank accounts with more than $1m. The prosecution maintains that from 2007 to 2011, more than $20m was moved from accounts linked to Epstein to accounts linked to Maxwell.
According to the indictment, three unnamed minors were allegedly “induced and enticed” by Maxwell, who “facilitated” for them to be groomed by Epstein between 1994 and 1997 at his properties in Manhattan, Palm Beach in Florida, Santa Fe in New Mexico, as well as Maxwell’s London townhouse.
The unnamed victims on the indictment do not include Virginia Giuffre, who was pictured in 2001 with Andrew’s arm around her at Maxwell’s London home. Giuffre alleges she had sex with the duke when trafficked by Epstein aged 17, a claim Andrew has categorically denied.
Maxwell faces six counts: conspiracy to entice minors, and enticement of a minor, to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, conspiracy to transport minors, and transportation of a minor, with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, and two of perjury. If convicted she faces up to 35 years.
She has previously denied any wrongdoing.
The renewed media attention drawn by Prince Andrew concludes a particularly troublesome week for the royal family. A week in which the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle, in her case against Associated Newspapers, revealed she felt “unprotected” by the royal family from claims made in the UK tabloid press against her while she was pregnant.
Meghan is suing the publishers of the Mail on Sunday and Mail Online over the publication of extracts from a private handwritten letter she sent to her estranged father, Thomas Markle.
UK's Sunak vows to start migrant flights to Rwanda
The struggles of Occupied Palestine
How Cameron squirmed after being grilled on Israeli terrorism against Iran
War of wills: Iran army chief vows crushing response to any aggression
April 24: ‘Axis of Resistance’ operations against Israeli occupation
Tabas sand defeats US military
'US secretly sent long-range ATACMS missiles to Ukraine in recent weeks'
Iran: Awakened world public opinion determined to stop Israel war crimes
US House speaker wants National Guard to quell pro-Palestine student protests
Iran, Russia sign MoU to strengthen security cooperation
VIDEO | Iran marks defeat of US military operation in Tabas Desert
This makes it easy to access the Press TV website
