US demands UK hand over Prince Andrew for new criminal probe over Jeffrey Epstein links
Prince Andrew has plunged the royal family into further crisis, with the United States now demanding the UK to hand him over for questioning about his connection to Jeffrey Epstein.
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Prince Andrew has plunged the British monarchy into a fresh crisis, as the United States officially asked the UK to hand him over for questioning about his links to billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
The Department of Justice in the US has formally advised the Duke of York he was required to answer questions as part of a criminal probe into Epstein.
The well-connected paedophile, who killed himself in a Manhattan jail in August last year, while awaiting fresh child sex charges remains under investigation.
A source told The Sun: “It’s a huge statement of intent from the US and it moves Andrew into the realms of a criminal investigation”.
“It’s also frankly a diplomatic nightmare,” the source stated.
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Prince Andrew, 60, has denied claims from Australian based woman Virginia Roberts Giuffre, now 36, that she had sex with him three times in 2001 and 2002, including twice when she was underage, after being introduced to him through Epstein.
The Department of Justice has filed a “mutual legal assistance” request to the British Home Office, which is responsible for law and order and immigration, according to The Sun.
The request puts the UK government in a diplomatic storm, with major risks for the government with accepting or rejecting the demand.
There were claims that Prince Andrew may have to face questions under oath at Westminster Magistrates Court to satisfy the US investigators.
The Duke of York said he would provide a statement if his “legal advisers” told him to do so, in an interview with the BBC last year.
However, he has failed to reply to repeated requests from the US, with New York lawyer Geoffrey Berman saying in January that the prince had provided “zero co-operation.”
Ms Roberts Giuffre said yesterday: “I will continue to fight as long as I have breath in me!!”
She also retweeted a statement that Buckingham Palace had pressured an American television network not to air an interview with her detailing her claims about Prince Andrew.
Prince Andrew, the third of the Queen’s four children, had been known as Her Majesty’s favourite child.
However, she forced him to quit after his BBC interview in November last year, which was described as a “car crash”.
Prince Andrew was ridiculed for some of his claims, including that he did not sweat, despite pictures emerging that he did, and that he could not have met up with Ms Roberts Giuffre because he was at a Pizza Express in Woking, a commuter suburb in London’s outer southwest.
Prince Andrew was friends with Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s girlfriend, who has been accused of acting as a pimp by procuring underage girls for him to have sex with around the world.
Ms Maxwell’s whereabouts remain unknown and she was likely a person of interest in the Epstein investigation.
The Duke’s legal team have told a British newspaper that it was complying with the DOJ processes, which included not commenting publicly on the case.
Prince Andrew stepped down as a senior royal after his disastrous TV interview with Newsnight in November.
It aimed to clear the air, but the “car crash” exchange with BBC presenter Emily Maitlis that instead has seen his career left in ruins.
Ms Roberts Giuffre alleged Prince Andrew was “sweating profusely” at a nightclub before she was forced to have sex with him at Ms Maxwell’s apartment.
During his TV interview, Prince Andrew told Newsnight he had a “peculiar medical condition” that meant he did not sweat.
He also said he would help the US investigation if his “legal advice was to do so”.
But in January, US lawyer Mr Berman – who is leading the Epstein inquiry for the Southern District of New York – said Prince Andrew had “provided zero co-operation”.
Two months later, Mr Berman said the Duke had “now completely shut the door on voluntary co-operation”.
Epstein’s death in his New York jail cell is set to be the subject of a blockbuster new true crime series, Who Killed Jeffrey Epstein? to air on Foxtel tomorrow, following from Netflix’s Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich.
It reopens the case against the shady stockbroker, who lived a life of debauchery and lies, with devastating consequence.
The three-part special lays out the criminal history of the Coney Island-born Epstein, who was first reported to police and the FBI back in 1995 for sexually-abusing a 15-year-old girl – just the beginning of what would be described as a “molestation pyramid scheme”.
Originally published as US demands UK hand over Prince Andrew for new criminal probe over Jeffrey Epstein links