Prince Andrew could be asked to help with FBI’s probe into paedo billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, lawyer claims
PRINCE Andrew could be asked to help the FBI agents investigating paedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, a lawyer has claimed.
David Boies, the lawyer of Virginia Giuffre - who claimed she worked as a sex slave for Jeffrey Epstein - believes the Duke of York could give cumulative evidence to officials probing the case.
The billionaire banker, 66, pleaded not guilty to an array of sex trafficking charges after prosecutors accused him of abusing girls as young as 14 in a "vast network of underage victims".
Mr Boies also said Prince Andrew would "almost certainly" refuse to speak to US prosecutors about Epstein's charges.
He added that investigators would not be able to force him to testify even though his comments could add to the "cumulative" evidence against Epstein.
Mrs Giuffre, previously Virginia Roberts, has alleged she was among a number of young girls who were abused by Epstein and others when she was a teenager.
'CUMULATIVE EVIDENCE'
She has claimed in US court papers that she slept with Prince Andrew – however the allegations were later struck from the record as being "immaterial and impertinent".
The Duke of York has denied any involvement with Mrs Giuffre.
Now living in Australia, she yesterday spoke out for the first time since Epstein was arrested.
In a statement issued by Mr Boies’ law firm, Mrs Giuffre said: "I am deeply pleased that federal prosecutors in New York have arrested Jeffrey Epstein and are on the case in a serious way."
Mr Boies told : "She [Virginia] has been subjected to years of verbal abuse by Epstein and his confederates to try to discredit her. This is real vindication, she couldn’t be happier."
Asked if Andrew should be called as a witness, Mr Boies replied: "If they call him he won’t answer and they can’t go over there to the UK and get him."
As to whether the prince would have anything useful to say, Mr Boies said: "Yes and no, I think it’s all cumulative."
At a press conference, Manhattan US Attorney Geoffrey Berman said investigators “seized evidence including nude photographs of what appeared to be underage girls” while scouring the convicted paedophiles mansion over the weekend.
Agents busted into the 66-year-old’s Upper East Side townhouse as Epstein was arrested on sex trafficking charges at a New Jersey airport.
VIRGINIA'S CLAIMS
Prince Andrew was also dragged into the Jeffrey Epstein paedo scandal as a photo of him with an 'underage prostitute' was listed as an exhibit at a court case last year.
In 2015, ex-masseuse Virginia Giuffre claimed she was recruited by Epstein as an underage sex slave and was paid to sleep with Prince Andrew when she was 17.
The Duke of York was photographed with his arm around Virginia Roberts’ waist at a London townhouse in March 2001.
A Buckingham Palace spokesperson told Sun Online in December: “It is emphatically denied The Duke of York had any form of sexual contact or relationship with Virginia Roberts.”
Prince Andrew was also photographed with Epstein in 2011 after his release from prison and in the ensuing row the prince lost his role as a trade envoy for Britain.
She renewed her claims from 2015 in an interview with the Miami Herald as part of its probe into Jeffrey Epstein — the prince’s paedophile former friend.
The exposé claimed financier Epstein, 65, allegedly abused up to 80 women including a Hollywood actress.
In an interview, Miss Roberts claims she was 16 when she met Epstein, who she was introduced to by British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, the daughter of Robert Maxwell.
She said she was sent to Epstein’s private Caribbean island and groomed as a sex slave.
She claimed in a 2015 civil lawsuit she had sex with Andrew twice when she was 17 and during an orgy aged 18.
Her claims were rolled into a larger lawsuit which ruled “the factual details are immaterial”.
'NEW LIFE'
She fled Epstein’s clutches in 2003 and started a "new life" is now a mother of three.
Now she has "turned her life"; around after moving to the coastal city of Cairns and starting a family with her "very protective" husband, reported.
She now lives with Robert and their three kids in a secure gated community in peaceful northern Queensland.
Last year, Mrs Giuffre warned Prince Andrew he could still face prosecution.
The 35-year-old said he will “get it in the end” because women like her were speaking up.
She said: “It’s my biggest shame that I will never get rid of.
"I’m really sad I brought other girls my age and younger into this world.”
She added: “These guys will get it in the end, us girls are not going to sit here.”
'THOUSANDS' OF NUDE IMAGES FOUND
Manhattan US Attorney Geoffrey Berman alleged the FBI found “perhaps thousands” of photos of nude and half-nude females at Epstein's residence — including images of “at least one girl who, according to her counsel, was underage at the time the relevant photographs were taken.”
In an indictment unsealed Monday, prosecutors said they want to seize the seven-floor Manhattan mansion, reported .
Epstein - who used to socialise with the likes of Prince Andrew, the Clintons and Donald Trump - appeared in court on Monday to contest the charges.
He showed up wearing a blue jail uniform after spending the night at a federal lock-up in Manhattan.
Prosecutors for the Southern District of New York argued that the mega-rich banker - who has THREE US passports - is a flight risk and will ask for bail to be denied.
He faces up to 45 years in prison if he is found guilty on both counts of sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking of minors.
The legal indictment released on Monday details the charges against the financier.
It alleges that Epstein "sexually exploited and abused dozens of minor girls" at his homes in various locations.
The document claims the 66-year-old would pay girls "hundreds of dollars" to perform sex acts with him and would also pay certain victims "to recruit additional girls to be similarly abused."
'UNDERAGE GIRLS ABUSED'
In 2008, financier Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida to state charges of soliciting and procuring a person under age 18 for prostitution.
He was sentenced to just 13 months in jail thanks to a sweetheart deal with cops.
However, because of that victim’s age – she was 16 – Epstein did not have to register as a sex offender in states like New Mexico where he owns a sprawling ranch.
He is also classified as a low risk offender in the US Virgin Islands which is his primary residence.
Epstein was required to reach financial settlements with dozens of his once-teenage victims.
A federal appeals court ordered the unsealing of nearly 2,000 pages of records related to a civil case that may contain lurid claims about Epstein’s sexual history.
The 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals' ruling relates to records in a since-settled defamation case after Epstein pleaded guilty to soliciting in 2008.
DOZENS OF ACCUSERS
Records in the defamation case contained descriptions of sexual abuse by Epstein along with new allegations of sexual abuse by "numerous prominent American politicians, powerful business executives, foreign presidents, a well-known prime minister and other world leaders."
According to court documents in Florida, authorities say at least 40 underage girls were brought into Epstein's Palm Beach mansion for what turned into sexual encounters.
Female fixers allegedly looked for suitable girls locally and in Eastern Europe and other parts of the world.
Epstein also has maintained a home in New York, in New Mexico and a private Caribbean island.
According to court documents, some girls were brought to those places as well.
'VAST ABUSE NETWORK'
It continues: "In this way, Epstein created a vast network of underage victims for him to sexually exploit in locations including New York and Palm Beach."
The indictment alleges that minors were paid to give the wealthy businessman massages which would typically involve him pleasuring himself.
It also claims officers found "nude photographs of what appeared to be underage girls" at his mansion.
Epstein would also sometimes attempt to touch the girls' genitals with his hands or sex toys, the court docs allege.
Two women who claim the billionaire molested them when they were kids were in court.
I was 14, I had braces on. Like, I remember standing in his kitchen ... and he also had a lot of girls there all the time.”
Courtney Wild, alleged victim
Courtney Wild was just 14 when she alleges Epstein forced her into performing sex acts on him, ABC News reports.
She said: “I was 14, I had braces on.
“Like, I remember standing in his kitchen ... and he also had a lot of girls there all the time.”
Michelle Licata was aged 16 when she claims she was brought to the banker’s mansion in Palm Beach, Florida, where she was paid to give him a massage.
She said: “He said, god, you're just so beautiful and sexy and gorgeous and it was making me feel really uncomfortable.
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“Then he wanted me to rub his back, and he kept asking me to go lower and he was kind of talking to me.”
Both Wild and Licata were part of a 2008 criminal case brought against Epstein in Florida – for which the financer spent only 13 months in jail.
Epstein is being held in the Metropolitan Correction Center in Manhattan - the same jail as drug lord El Chapo - which has been called “tougher than Guantánamo Bay.”
Buckingham Palace declined to comment.
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