FBI expands Jeffrey Epstein probe; hopes to snare more Prince Andrew accusers
Prince Andrew is facing more trouble after reports emerged the FBI is probing any connections he may have to the alleged victims of Jeffrey Epstein.
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The FBI is now probing any “connection” Britain’s Prince Andrew may have with the Jeffrey Epstein sex scandal, according to a stunning new report.
The agency is expanding its investigation into the late financier in order to identify more of the convicted paedophile’s victims, who may provide more details about the royal’s alleged involvement, The Sunday Times reported.
“The US investigation is focusing on several potential victims in the hope that they can provide more details about Prince Andrew and his connection to the Epstein case,” sources from the US Department of Justice told the outlet. “They are not going to dismiss it [claims relating to Andrew] because he is a royal.”
According to the New York Post, agents will interview trafficking victims in the coming months, according to the report, which said the FBI has briefed Scotland Yard on its expanded probe.
Dai Davies, former head of royal protection at Scotland Yard who was in charge of Andrew’s protection in the late 1990s, told The Sunday Times a renewed investigation is in the “public interest.”
The royal, known as “Randy Andy,” was at one point friends with Epstein. Andrew has been accused of having sex with Virginia Roberts Giuffre, one of Epstein’s alleged underage “sex slaves.”
Giuffre, now 35, said she was 17 at the time she was allegedly offered up to Andrew at Epstein pal Ghislaine Maxwell’s townhouse in London. British authorities dropped a probe into the matter prompted in 2015 by Giuffre.
Andrew has repeatedly denied the accusations, saying they were “false” and “without foundation”.
He also said he regrets continuing his friendship with Epstein after the convicted paedophile was released from his short prison sentence in 2010.
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“I would have thought it’s in Prince Andrew’s interests to clear this matter up. Any residue of doubt or innuendo should be cleared up by a clear, unequivocal, structured investigation,” Davies said.
Giuffre’s are not the only claims the FBI is reviewing in relation to the Duke of York, The Sunday Times of London reported.
About 100 of Epstein’s victims are expected to form part of the FBI’s investigation, most of whom were between 14 and 15 years old when they were lured into Epstein’s circle. More than 80 have already been identified.
Epstein, 66, took his own life in a New York jail in August while awaiting sex-trafficking charges involving young women.
The news of the expanded probe comes after the FBI was accused of covering up Andrew’s links to Epstein. Ex-Florida policeman John Mark Dougan, who worked as a Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputy in 2005 — the year the department was investigating Epstein — claimed this week he had incriminating evidence on Andrew, and that the police were covering up the royal’s alleged role. Dougan now lives in Russia.
This story was originally published in the New York Post and is reprinted with permission.
Originally published as FBI expands Jeffrey Epstein probe; hopes to snare more Prince Andrew accusers