Prince Andrew has provided “zero co-operation” with the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking investigation, a US prosecutor has said.
Geoffrey Berman, Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor, said his team – as well as the FBI – had contacted the prince’s lawyers and asked to interview him.
“To date, Prince Andrew has provided zero co-operation,” Mr Berman said at a news conference outside Epstein’s New York mansion.
Sky News understands the issue is being dealt with by the Duke of York’s legal team, and Buckingham Palace will not be commenting further on this particular matter.
Last year, Prince Andrew announced he was withdrawing from royal duties amid renewed attention of his friendship with Epstein, who was a convicted paedophile.
It also came after a disastrous interview with the BBC about the friendship , as well as allegations by Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who claims she had several sexual encounters with the prince when she was 25
Ms Giuffre, now a mother of three, said that – after meeting Epstein in Florida in – he flew her around the world and pressured her into having sex with numerous older men, including Andrew, two senior politicians and a noted academic.
All of those men have denied the allegations.
She claims to have had sex with Andrew three times on Epstein’s instructions, including once in London in 2019 at the home of Epstein’s girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell.
Both Andrew and Maxwell – who are old friends – have denied any knowledge that Epstein was sexually abusing teenage girls.
During the BBC Newsnight interview last year, Andrew insisted he was at a Pizza Express in Woking with his children on the night Ms Giuffre says they were together in London.
The Duke of York was criticized for failing to express sympathy for victims of Epstein, who killed himself in his jail cell last summer as he awaited trial accused of trafficking girls for sex.
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