Prince Andrew must 'of course' cooperate with FBI over Jeffrey Epstein, Sir Keir Starmer says
Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader and former director of public prosecutions, has said that “of course” the Duke of York should cooperate with the FBI over his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.
Sir Keir heaped further pressure on the Duke as he told Sky News: “It doesn't matter who you are. You cooperate with the law enforcement authorities when they ask you to do so.”
It came amid claims that new victims from the UK had come forward to claim they had been abused by Epstein, the financier who died in prison last year while awaiting trial.
Gloria Allred, a US lawyer representing 16 Epstein accusers, revealed she had “absolutely” been contacted by British women seeking compensation from his estate in recent days.
She accused Prince Andrew of playing a “cat and mouse game” with prosecutors, saying that many of her clients had voluntarily spoken to prosecutors about Epstein and Maxwell’s alleged crimes.
“By the way, they didn’t wait for the gold-plated invitation,” she told Radio 4’s Today programme.
“Does Prince Andrew want it presented to him on a silver platter with footmen delivering this invitation from the justice department to come and be interviewed?
“If Prince Andrew’s lawyers would like to contact me, I’ll put them in touch, problem solved.”
The Duke’s lawyers have claimed that they offered to cooperate with US prosecutors just days before Maxwell was arrested, leaving the Prince "very frustrated" by the public appeal for him to "talk with us".
Sources close to the Duke said his legal team had written to the Department of Justice in the US two to three days before FBI agents swooped, arresting Ms Maxwell, 58, at her hideout in New Hampshire on Thursday.
They insist that his lawyers had now written five times offering to assist with the inquiry into Maxwell’s alleged role in grooming under age girls who were sexually abused by Epstein, her former boyfriend.
The Duke’s relationship with US prosecutors has become the subject of great debate in recent months as he continues to insist he is cooperating with the investigation while US prosecutors paint a very different picture.
His judgement has also been called into question after the Telegraph published a photograph of Maxwell sitting on the throne in the Buckingham Palace Throne Room after being treated to a private tour - along with Bill Clinton and Kevin Spacey - by the Duke in 2002.
The Duke has said he has "no recollection" of the incident but this newspaper has ascertained that he was definitely there.
Maxwell is due before a court in New York later this week.
Prosecutors have asked a judge to schedule an appearance on Friday after her lawyers asked for a bail hearing.
An indictment made public last week said Maxwell facilitated Epstein's crimes by "helping Epstein to recruit, groom, and ultimately abuse" girls as young as 14. It also said she participated in the sexual abuse.
At the heart of the case is a victim alleged to have been abused in London in the mid Nineties.
Virginia Roberts Giuffre, one of Epstein’s victims who claims she was trafficked to the UK and forced to have sex with the Duke, said on Sunday that the Duke should be “panicking” following Maxwell’s arrest, despite one of her friends insisting that she would never sell him out.
The Duke insists he has no recollection of meeting Ms Roberts Giuffre and has denied any sexual contact.
The Epstein Victims’ Compensation Fund, which opened last Thursday, will pay victims from the later financier’s estimated £500 million estate. It was designed by the estate in conjunction with lawyers in a bid to limit litigation and avoid court cases that could drag on for years.
