When Prince Andrew stepped down from his role as a senior royal in November, it didn’t end the scandal over his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, which involved several of Epstein’s accusers pointing fingers at Andrew as well. (In multiple statements and an interview with the BBC, Andrew denied the allegations and knowledge of anything improper.) Though he said that he would be willing to work with law enforcement on cases related to Epstein in his resignation statement, he has seemingly declined all invitations to comment from both the U.S. government and the lawyers working on behalf of Epstein’s victims and accusers. On Monday, The Sun reported that the U.S. has enlisted the help of the U.K. government in their attempt to seek testimony from Andrew—bypassing Buckingham Palace in the process.
According to the newspaper, the Department of Justice filed a “mutual legal assistance” request last month seeking the U.K. Home Office’s cooperation on the case. “It’s a huge statement of intent from the U.S. and it moves Andrew into the realms of a criminal investigation,” a source told the outlet. “It’s also frankly a diplomatic nightmare. The DOJ does not make a request of this nature lightly, especially one involving a senior member of the British royal family. It puts the U.K. government in a very difficult position—and the Duke of York even, even more so.”
The request comes after months of complaints from Americans involved in the case. In January, Geoffrey Berman, the U.S. attorney appointed to the Department of Justice’s Southern District of New York, said that Andrew had “provided zero cooperation,” despite the DOJ’s usual reticence to comment on an ongoing investigation. Gloria Allred and David Boies, the legal celebrities representing a handful of Epstein’s accusers, both said that Andrew has ignored their letters requesting interviews.
In response, sources close to Andrew told The Telegraph that he had never been formally asked by the government to cooperate. One added that he’s been advised to disregard the requests and that they were simply a P.R. tactic.
On Monday, Andrew’s lawyers again denied the claims made by the U.S., and claimed they had made at least three attempts to help. “Unfortunately, the DOJ has reacted to the first two offers by breaching their own confidentiality rules and claiming that the duke has offered zero cooperation. In doing so, they are perhaps seeking publicity rather than accepting the assistance proffered,” their statement read, according to the BBC.
The Department of Justice later responded with their own statement, though it did not confirm or deny The Sun’s claim that they had enlisted the help of the U.K. Home Office. According to the BBC, it read:
Though Andrew’s legal team insists that the DOJ hasn’t actually accepted his assistance and is instead seeking publicity, the continued back-and-forth isn’t doing the prince’s case any favors. In the Sun’s report, they claim that British officials have not yet made a decision about what comes next for Andrew.
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