Prince Andrew urged to talk to FBI hours after Ghislaine Maxwell arrest for ‘abusing and grooming Epstein victims’
PRINCE Andrew has been urged to talk to the FBI just hours after the dramatic arrest of Ghislaine Maxwell.
Announcing the arrest of Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged pimp at an explosive press conference in New York, investigators said they would “welcome Prince Andrew coming in to talk with us to have the benefit of his statement”.
The prince has faced backlash over his friendship with the disgraced financier after Epstein victim Virginia Roberts claimed that she had sex with the royal on several occasions.
Prince Andrew has strongly denied the allegations and took part in a car crash TV interview where he claimed he had been at a Pizza Express restaurant on the night Roberts claims they met in a London nightclub.
US prosecutors have now encouraged Andrew to talk to them after Epstein’s alleged pimp Maxwell was arrested this morning.
During today’s extraordinary press conference, acting Manhattan US Attorney Audrey Strauss said: “We would welcome Prince Andrew coming in to talk to us, we would like to have the benefit of his statement.
“Our doors remain open and we would like to hear from him and have the benefit of his statement.”
But added that they would not comment further on the Duke of York in relation to the investigation.
Andrew was believed to be at home at Royal Lodge, in Windsor, when he heard Maxwell had been caught but a spokesman for the royal issued a firm “no comment”.
Andrew’s six-month standoff with the FBI deepened after Maxwell was detained for allegedly helping to lure underage girls who were then sexually abused by Epstein.
Maxwell’s arrest will now intensify calls for Andrew to come forward and speak about any involvement he may have had, despite him denying wrongdoing.
The FBI had previously claimed that the royal had failed to respond to them regarding Epstein but the Duke claimed that he had made several attempts to help with the sex trafficking investigation.
The Sun revealed last month that US prosecutors lodged a ‘mutual legal assistance’ request.
If accepted by the Home Office it would compel the duke to appear in a UK court and be questioned as a witness by a judge with a US observe Virginia Roberts Giuffre, one of Epstein’s alleged victims, has said in a civil lawsuit that Maxwell recruited her into Epstein’s circle.
ROYAL PAL
According to his “car crash” Newsnight interview last November, Andrew said he had known Maxwell since she was at Oxford University in the early 1980s.
She was a guest at Windsor Castle for Andrew’s 40th birthday party thrown by the Queen.
Maxwell even attended Beatrice’s 18th bash at Windsor Castle and a shooting party at Sandringham thrown by Andrew for her birthday.
Royal insiders claim she regularly met Andrew inside Buckingham Palace.
The Sun revealed Maxwell was quietly ushered into the palace on June 6th last year – just weeks before Epstein’s arrest and death.
Speaking about his old pal on Newsnight, Andrew said: “If there are questions that Ghislaine has to answer, that’s her problem I’m afraid.
“I’m not in a position to be able to comment one way or the other.”
BOMBSHELL ARREST
Maxwell was arrested on Thursday morning on charges of conspiring with Epstein to sexually abuse minors and is expected to appear in a federal court later today.
The British socialite and heiress, who was the billionaire’s lover, is accused of ‘delivering underage girls into Epstein’s trap’ by grooming them and ‘putting them at ease as an adult woman’ as she stood over the pervert as he carried out his sick abuse.
The place of her arrest is understood to be close to the home of her alleged boyfriend Scott Borgerson in Bedford, New Hampshire.
Speaking about today’s arrest, Audrey Strauss added: “She lied because the truth as alleged was almost unspeakable. Maxwell delivered the victims into a trap.”
The British socialite and heiress, who was Epstein’s lover, is accused of ‘delivering underage girls into Epstein’s trap’ by grooming them and ‘putting them at ease as an adult woman’ as she stood over the pervert as he carried out his sick abuse.
“Maxwell played a critical role in helping Epstein to identify, befriend and groom minor victims for abuse.
“In some cases, Maxwell participated in the abuse herself.”
The FBI’s William Sweeney today branded Maxwell “a villain” and said she had been arrested without incident.
He added: “We have been discreetly keeping tabs on Maxwell’s whereabouts as we work this investigation, and more recently we gathered she had slithered away to a gorgeous property in New Hampshire.
“She continued to live a life of privilege while her victims lived with the trauma inflicted upon them years ago”.
Charges against Ghislaine Maxwell:
- Count one: Conspiracy to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts
- Count two: Enticement of a minor to travel to engage in illegal sex acts
- Count three: Conspiracy to transport minors with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity
- Count four: Transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity
- Count five and six: Perjury – the offence of willfully telling an untruth or making a misrepresentation under oath.
Maxwell had not been officially accused of criminal wrongdoing until today.
Her presence “helped put the victims at ease because an adult woman was present” during their interactions with Epstein , the 18-page indictment says.
She has been accused of pretending to be a “woman they could trust” while setting the victims up to be abused by herself and Epstein.
Ms Strauss said: “Maxwell and Epstein worked together to entice these minor victims to travel to Epstein’s residences – his residence in New York City on the Upper East Side, as well as Palm Beach, Florida, and Santa Fe, New Mexico.
“Some of the acts of abuse also took place in Maxwell’s residence in London, England.”
‘BREATH OF RELIEF’
Maxwell also “compounded her crimes by repeatedly lying in 2016 when she was questioned under oath”, Ms Strauss said.
She continued: “Maxwell lied because the truth as alleged was almost unspeakable, Maxwell enticed minor girls, got them to trust her, then delivered them into the trap that she and Epstein had set for them.”
Jennifer Aroaz, one of Epstein’s victims who is not part of the indictment, said: “Today, my fellow Epstein survivors and I are able to take a breath of relief, as Maxwell’s arrest means some justice for survivors can exist.
“For years, I feared Epstein and his ring. Maxwell was the center of that sex trafficking ring. Now that the ring has been taken down, I know that I can’t be hurt anymore.
“Day after day, I have waited for the news that Maxwell would be arrested and held accountable for her actions.
“Her arrest is a step in that direction, and it truly means that the justice system didn’t forget about us.”
It comes two weeks after the New York attorney who was investigating Epstein was fired because he reportedly refused to drop his demands to interview Prince Andrew.
Epstein, a registered sex offender, was arrested last summer on new federal charges of exploiting dozens of underage girls in New York and Florida in the early 2000s.
He attempted suicide in custody in late July, and then died after another suicide attempt in early August.
MOST READ IN NEWS
Two of the guards tasked with monitoring Epstein now face federal charges for not properly supervising him before his death.
One day before his suicide, a federal appeals court released the transcript of a 2016 deposition in which Epstein repeatedly refused to say whether Maxwell had procured young girls for him.
Spokespeople for the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan declined to comment on Maxwell’s arrest today.