U.S. prosecutors are keeping up their pursuit of Prince Andrew for his ties to former financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The long arm of justice is reaching all the way across the Atlantic and demanding answers from Andrew about his history of friendship with the late Epstein who was indicted in July 2019 on charges of sex trafficking spanning decades.Prosecutors, who politely requested the cooperation of the Prince earlier this year
only to be ultimately ignored, have now made their demand formal believing that the Duke may have key information about Epstein which may help in the ongoing investigation.This doesn’t mean that the Duke of York will be put on the next plane to NYC. Instead,
it’s reported that he’ll be interviewed as a witness in the UK following the filing of a Mutual Legal Assistance request made to the British Home Office. That means that U.K. and U.S. legal teams will work together to acquire Andrew’s testimony about Epstein. Any report he gives in the interview, however, would not be under oath (which, yes, sounds odd). That said, if Andrew still refuses to work with Epstein inquiry prosecutors, he could be forced to show up for a day in court.[video_embed id='1972390']RELATED: New Netflix series looks at Epstein abuse [/video_embed]Back in December, the Palace told the press the Prince would “help any appropriate law enforcement agency with their investigations” relating to Epstein, but Andrew had other ideas.In the
PR disaster heard round the world, Andrew told a
Newsnight interviewer that he had no regrets about his friendship with Epstein (and offered up scant sympathy for the victims). However, with the release of recent docuseries,
Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich, news that the Duke is alleged to have had sex with an underage girl, Virginia Giuffre (née Roberts), in 2001 continues to circulate. Giuffre shares her account of events in the series and stands by her claim that Epstein trafficked her to the Prince. For his part, Andrew denies knowing her, however,
a photo of him with a 17-year-old Giuffre exists. It’s even in focus.With Epstein dead (the financier committed suicide in his jail cell while awaiting trial last August) it remains to be seen if other abusers connected to his trafficking ring will face justice. Andrew, meanwhile, has admitted to visiting Epstein at his home in Palm Beach as well as on his private island. Victims have cited both locations as places where abuse happened. Time (and a team of U.S. prosecutors) will tell.[video_embed id='1973112']BEFORE YOU GO: J.K. Rowling under fire for anti-trans tweets [/video_embed]
