Prince Andrew 'cruel' for refusing to cooperate in Epstein case: Attorney Gloria Allred
Officials previously announced the Duke had 'completely shut the door on voluntary cooperation'
An attorney representing a handful of Jeffrey Epstein’s female accusers has slammed the financier's longtime associated, Prince Andrew, for his unwillingness to cooperate with the United States Attorney’s Office.
“Prince Andrew has raised the hopes of Jeffrey Epstein victims and has now disappointed those hopes. This is cruel,” Gloria Allred told FOX Business in an email Tuesday.
Prince Andrew, Duke of York on Aug. 11, 2019, in Crathie, Aberdeenshire. (Duncan McGlynn/Getty Images)
Allred represents a number of Epstein's accusers.
“Victims deserve the whole truth regarding who may have conspired to sex traffic underage girls to Jeffrey Epstein," she said. "Prince Andrew could assist in learning the truth, but he appears to be refusing cooperation with the FBI.”
Andrew, the Duke of York, announced in November he would be stepping away from his royal duties, noting that he “unequivocally” regretted his “ill-judged associated” with Epstein, a previously convicted sex offender who had been arrested in July for sex trafficking of a minor and related charges.
“Of course,” he said in the press release at the time, “I am willing to help any appropriate law enforcement agency with their investigations, if required.”
But for the second time in only months, U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman painted a much different picture.
"Contrary to Prince Andrew's very public offer to cooperate with our investigation into Epstein's co-conspirators, an offer that was conveyed via press release, Prince Andrew has now completely shut the door on voluntary cooperation and our office is considering its options,” Berman told reporters Monday during an unrelated media event.
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His office would not clarify to Reuters when asked for more specifics about “options.”
Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Andrew, Duke of York attend Royal Ascot 2017 at Ascot Racecourse on June 22, 2017, in Ascot, England. (Chris Jackson/Getty Images)
The Duke’s attorneys told Berman’s office he would not voluntarily agree to being interviewed, Reuters reports.
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Berman had made a similar statement at the end of January when he first revealed that despite their request to interview him, the Duke has "provided zero cooperation" in their efforts.
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"This is so hypocritical on the part of Prince Andrew," Allred told The Daily Mail. "There is this drip drip drip and this torture chamber where he says he will speak to them, then he won’t, then he will with conditions."
Prince Andrew, The Duke Of York, and Jeffrey Epstein (far right) at Ascot in this undated photo. (Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images)
Allred previously told the BBC she once went as far as sending a letter to Andrew's home asking him to cooperate with authorities, but she never heard received a response.
Epstein died in August in the Metropolitan Correctional Complex in Manhattan, New York, where he was being housed while awaiting trial. The criminal case was dismissed following his death, but investigators are still probing many of Epstein’s known associates, including Andrew and British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, with whom the Duke reportedly frequently spent time.
Maxwell is seen in a photograph with Andrew and one of Epstein’s accusers, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who has accused Maxwell and the now-deceased financier of forcing her into sex with the royal when she was 17.
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Prince Andrew with his arm around the waist of 17-year-old Virginia Giuffre. In the background is Epstein's girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell. (Court papers)
Giuffre told BBC’s “Panorama” she was instructed by Maxwell to have sex with Andrew during a trip to London in March 2001 when she was 17.
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“Ghislaine tells me that I have to do for Andrew what I do for Jeffrey and that made me sick,” she said during the December interview, later adding: “Well there was a bath and it started there and then it led into the bedroom and it didn’t last very long, the whole, entire procedure. It was disgusting. He wasn’t mean or anything but he got up and said, ‘Thanks.’”
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Andrew "emphatically denied" Giuffre’s claims.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.