Prince Andrew under pressure to ‘come clean’ on Jeffrey Epstein sex scandal
Pressure is growing on the Queen’s second son to “come clean” as an Australian woman vows to bring to justice prominent men and women drawn into the Jeffrey Epstein sex scandal.
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In the past, the worst his detractors could throw at Prince Andrew was that he was a bit of a gaffe-prone joke, a somewhat foppish throwback to when royals weren’t expected to work too hard, and were certainly not held to the same standards as ordinary folk.
As Queen Elizabeth’s second son and a trade envoy for Britain, he earned the nickname “Air Miles Andy” for his love of luxury world travel with exorbitant staffing, tripping from billionaire think tanks in Davos to private Caribbean islands, with extended New York and European jaunts in between.
But as the scandal daily builds about his long association with disgraced American financier Jeffrey Epstein, there are questions that even the Palace’s best spin doctors appear unable to answer.
Epstein’s apparent suicide while in jail awaiting trial on multiple charges of underage sex trafficking has unleashed a flood of new accusations from women who say they were teenagers, some still wearing braces, when they were groomed and inculcated into servicing Epstein, and at times made to perform acts with other prominent men and women.
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Epstein accuser urges Prince Andrew to ‘come clean’
At least one accuser says she was forced by Epstein to have sex three times with Prince Andrew.
Another alleges the Duke of York stroked her breast, both claims which he has denied.
A pilot said in legal papers that were unsealed just before Epstein’s death that he flew Prince Andrew and one of his accusers on Epstein’s private plane, nicknamed the “Lolita express”, to the US Virgin Island’s estate which locals called “paedophile island”.
Following an emotional court hearing this week, in which sixteen of Epstein’s victims spoke, sometimes through tears, of the terror he sparked and the fury they feel, there is even more pressure on Prince Andrew to explain what he knew, if anything, of the depraved actions of Epstein and his inner circle.
As Prince Andrew’s main accuser put it in a brief statement outside the court in New York: “He knows exactly what he’s done, and I hope he comes clean about it”.
Those words were spoken by an Australia-based mum of three, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who is now 36 and has produced photographic evidence that shows she met the Duke of York at least once, when she was 17.
In that picture, taken inside the London townhouse of Epstein’s sometimes girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, Prince Andrew’s arm is around Ms Giuffre’s shoulder as he turns towards her, his hand resting on the bare skin of her slim, teenage hip.
Ms Giuffre is in tight patterned pants and one of the small crop tops she says Epstein liked her to wear.
She says she was 16 when Epstein’s sidekick, the fallen socialite Maxwell, lured her to a job as a masseuse from where she was working at the spa at Donald Trump’s Florida golf resort. Maxwell — who is being sought by US authorities — is standing in a door behind Ms Giuffre and the Duke in the infamous photo. All three are smiling.
“I was recruited at a very young age from Mar-a-Lago and entrapped in a world that I didn't understand,” Ms Giuffre said on Tuesday.
In an interview with the Miami Herald, Ms Giuffre explained the grooming process in vivid detail.
“The training started immediately. I mean it was everything down to how to give a blow job, how to be quiet, be subservient, give Jeffrey what he wants,” Ms Giuffre told the paper, whose reporting last year of the 2008 sweetheart deal which saw Epstein serve just 13 months for sex with a minor prompted the renewed investigation into Epstein that led to the new charges last month.
“A lot of this training came from Ghislaine herself, and being a woman it kind of surprises you that a woman could let stuff like that happen, but not only let it happen but groom you into doing it.”
Ms Giuffre said she travelled the world with Epstein and Maxwell, staying at his estates in London, New York, New Mexico and the Virgin Islands compound that visitors have compared to a Bond villain’s lair.
“It’s very private, it’s the perfect world for a billionaire to get away with what he was doing,” Ms Giuffre said.
“You could hold big parties there and have big orgies there and nobody would have any idea what was going on.”
Ms Giuffre has also accused prominent US lawyer Alan Dershowitz of using her for sex, a claim which he denies.
“It started with one and then it trickled into two and so on and so forth,” she recalled of how she was shared.
“Before you know it, I am being lent out to politicians and to academics and to people that (include) royalty.”
Prince Andrew has issued two recent denials over the claims surrounding his contact with Epstein.
“It is apparent to me since the suicide of Mr Epstein that there has been an immense amount of media speculation about so much in his life,” he said.
“This is particularly the case in relation to my former association or friendship with Mr Epstein.
“Therefore I am eager to clarify the facts to avoid further speculation.
“I met Mr Epstein in 1999. During the time I knew him, I saw him infrequently and probably no more than only once or twice a year. I have stayed in a number of his residences.
“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.”
Buckingham Palace had earlier released a statement saying: “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.”
The last time the Duke of York was photographed with Epstein was in December 2010, and it was a day that would continue to haunt him.
About a year after Epstein was released from jail, the pair was snapped by paparazzo strolling through Central Park.
The fallout from his association with Epstein and blown out travel, food and entertaining costs — including more than $AU1 million in 2010 alone — would go on to cost the Duke his title as trade envoy six months later.
But while Prince Andrew likely hoped that put the scandal behind him, it was revived again when evidence emerged this month that showed he was actually staying with Epstein at his Upper East Side mansion at the time.
Newly surfaced video showed a string of young women heading in and out of the home’s front door, and at one point Prince Andrew was filmed grinning as he waved goodbye to Katherine Keating, daughter of former Australian PM Paul Keating.
There is no suggestion Ms Keating knew of any illegal acts taking place in the property. She has not responded to numerous requests for comment.
While many whose names have been drawn into the Epstein scandal have gone to ground, Prince Andrew has been photographed over the past week playing golf in Scotland.
His accusers say they will give no quarter until they have their day in court.
“Anybody can deny things in a printed statement,” said David Boies, the prominent US lawyer acting for some Epstein's accusers.
“It's a different thing to come here and answer questions under oath and subject to cross-examinations. Those are the kinds of answers that we are eventually going to get.”
And as Ms Giuffre, who was in New York after flying from her Queensland home, said: “I won't stop fighting. I will never be silenced, until these people are brought to justice.”
Originally published as Prince Andrew under pressure to ‘come clean’ on Jeffrey Epstein sex scandal
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