‘Clock ticking’ for Prince Andrew as Ghislaine Maxwell heads to court

Lawyer who represents Epstein victims says Prince Andrew should talk to authorities before Ghislaine Maxwell tells them what she knows.

Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell in New York in 2005. Picture: Getty Images

Prince Andrew has been warned that the “clock is ticking” for him to speak to US prosecutors about Jeffrey Epstein after the arrest of the pedophile financier’s associate Ghislaine Maxwell.

Gloria Allred, who represents 16 of Epstein’s victims, told reporters in Los Angeles that the powerful men in Epstein’s circle should be worried after Maxwell’s arrest.

“My point is this, she knows quite a bit about the powerful men who were close to Jeffrey Epstein,” she said. “Ms. Maxwell is the one who introduced Prince Andrew to Jeffrey Epstein.”

Virginia Roberts Giuffre, one of Epstein’s victims, has said Maxwell introduced her to Andrew, and claims he slept with her when she was 17.

Maxwell, who has been charged with producing under-age girls for Epstein to abuse, has been transferred to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn ahead of a court appearance on Friday local time (Saturday AEST).

Ms Allred said Andrew should speak under oath to authorities before Maxwell did. “If I were Prince Andrew, I would want to speak to prosecutors before Ms Maxwell speaks to the prosecutors. And the clock is ticking. She could decide to speak with them at any time,” Ms Allred said.

It has also emerged that Andrew’s lawyers had ­reportedly talked to a Washington lobbyist who has links to Donald Trump, seeking help in dealing with the fallout from the Epstein scandal.

The lawyers were said to have contacted Robert Stryk, a Washington figure who has represented controversial clients including ­Isabel dos Santos, the daughter of the former Angolan president who is accused of embezzling millions, and the government of ­Joseph Kabila, former president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, who has been sanctioned for human rights abuses.

A source close to Prince Andrew said: ‘This looks like a lobbying firm ­advertising. No engagements have been made or sought.’ Picture: AFP

The talks, in the past few weeks, fizzled out after Mr Stryk ­“expressed discomfort about the possibility of assisting Prince ­Andrew”, The New York Times reported. Mr Stryk is said to be “well-connected in Trump administration foreign policy circles”.

A source close to Andrew said: “This looks like a lobbying firm ­advertising. No engagements have been made or sought.”

It is understood that an introductory conversation took place but it was not initiated by Andrew’s team and went no ­further.

Meanwhile, Ms Giuffre said he “should be panicking” after the ­arrest of Ghislaine Maxwell.

She has claimed that Epstein forced her to have sex with Andrew on three occasions, ­including when she was 17 at a London house owned by Ms Maxwell. Andrew vehemently denies the charges.

She told Australia’s 60 Minutes on Sunday that the arrest of ­Epstein’s former partner and confidante had been “one of the best days of my life”.

“I have not stopped smiling and crying, happy tears,” Ms Giuffre said. “She ­ruined so many lives. She belongs in jail.”

She urged Ms Maxwell, who was arrested by the FBI in New Hampshire last week, to co-operate with prosecutors and name those who had been involved in sexually abusing under-age girls.

“Prince Andrew should be panicking at the moment because Ghislaine doesn’t really care about anyone else but Ghislaine,” Ms ­Giuffre added.

Ms Maxwell is accused of ­recruiting under-age girls and grooming them for Epstein to sexually abuse, as well as sometimes joining in with the abuse. The prince has been a friend of Ms Maxwell since the mid-1990s and she is said to have tried to dissuade him from speaking to the media before a disastrous TV interview last year.

Laura Goldman, a friend of Ms Maxwell, said she had urged the prince not to talk to the press. “She told him it won’t do any good, nobody wants to hear what we have to say. But he ignored her. He thought that he could use his lack of charm to charm people,” Ms Goldman told the Sunday Mirror.

The publication at the weekend of an image of Ms Maxwell and disgraced actor Kevin Spacey on the coronation thrones in Buckingham Palace has added to pressure on the prince. The pair breached protocol by sitting on the thrones during a private tour organised by Andrew in 2002.

The pressure on Andrew came as further claims were made of Ms Maxwell’s alleged role in grooming Epstein’s victims. A woman endured years of rape and abuse after Ms Maxwell and ­Epstein approached her at a summer camp in 1994 and offered to help her singing career, American court papers say. The woman said Ms Maxwell had “regularly facilitated Epstein’s abuse … and was frequently present when it occurred”.

Ms Maxwell had hidden from public view since Epstein’s arrest and suicide last year. On Thursday, police and FBI officers broke her gate with bolt-cutters and forced open her door. She is expected to appear in a New York court on Wednesday or Thursday AEST.

US lawyer Alan Dershowitz, who represented ­Epstein, said: “The case against Ghislaine Maxwell is far from over.”

Writing in The Spectator, Professor Dershowitz said evidence implicating Ms Maxwell was “based largely on the accounts of two women with histories of making dubious accusations”.

Ms Giuffre has also claimed she had sex with Professor Dershowitz, which he denies. She sued him last year after he called her a “serial perjurer” and “serial liar”. He filed a countersuit saying he had never met her.

On Monday AEST, he said he hoped any videos Epstein had made would be released and clear his name. “There have been suggestions Epstein made secret videos of all the men who had sex in his houses and planes,” Professor Dershowitz tweeted. “I hope he did and they are all revealed, ­because they will prove I am not among them.”

THE TIMES