Prince Andrew should be FBI’s next target, say Ghislaine Maxwell victims

Prince Andrew should be the FBI's next target, urged lawyers for the victims of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell on Wednesday, a day after the British heiress was sentenced in a New York court.

The FBI had sought in 2019 to interview the Duke of York over his involvement with Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre, but, according to them, refused to cooperate. He is still said to be a “person of interest” to the federal agency, which last addressed the matter in late 2021.

Ms Giuffre claimed she was groomed by Maxwell when she was a minor so she could be sexually abused by Epstein and Andrew. Maxwell, 60, was on Tuesday ordered to spend 20 years in prison over her role in the vast sex-trafficking ring.

The Queen stripped her 62-year-old middle son of his HRH status, military titles and royal patronages. He largely withdrew from public life after reaching a $12million (£10m) out-of-court settlement with accuser Ms Giuffre earlier this year. He has always denied the allegations.

“We call upon the FBI to fully investigate Prince Andrew,” said Lisa Bloom, who represents several Epstein victims. “Virginia Giuffre's civil case should be just the beginning. Everyone associated with Epstein and Maxwell should be carefully investigated.”

She told The Telegraph: "The FBI decided not to force the issue with Prince Andrew, which would have created diplomatic problems between our two countries.

"It's high time for Prince Andrew to do the right thing, the thing he said he would do, and cooperate with the FBI," she said. "Until he does that, it is far too soon for him to return to public life."

Spencer Kuvin, who represents nearly a dozen other victims, told The Telegraph that they were “happy that there is finally some justice” but the women wanted the US Attorneys’ office to “continue with their investigation and prosecution of other co-conspirators that were involved with Epstein”.

Mr Kuvin said if the Duke “did nothing wrong, then come forward and tell the full story to the FBI, not the media”.

“Unfortunately the federal government does not discuss its ongoing investigations, so we have no idea what they are proceeding with,” he said. “I think the chances of prosecuting Prince Andrew are unfortunately very low.”

And asked about others possibly linked to Maxwell and Epstein, lawyer Brad Edwards, who speaks for several victims who testified at Maxwell’s trial, including British government witness “Kate”, added: “Let's hope they're the next target. If we have anything to do with it, they will be.”

US investigators applied to the British government to hand over the Duke to give evidence through a Mutual Legal Assistance request to the Home Office, bypassing Buckingham Palace. This would allow the FBI to ask for Andrew to be compelled to go to a British court to give evidence under oath as a witness.

The Home Office has refused to comment on the status of the MLA.

There have been no public pronouncements from the FBI regarding the Duke since early 2020, when Geoffrey Berman, then US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, revealed that the FBI and US prosecutors had asked to interview him about Epstein but had received "zero cooperation."

'Angry and bewildered'

The Duke was said to be “angry and bewildered" by the claims and insisted he had received no such request. He declined to comment further on Wednesday.

With Maxwell now incarcerated, the FBI could only seek to speak to the Duke if there was another, ongoing investigation.

It is not known what precise agreement was reached between Ms Giuffre and the Duke in the sex abuse lawsuit, however, Ms Giuffre’s lawyer David Boies, previously told The Telegraph that it did not prevent his client from filing a criminal complaint.

Maxwell, the daughter of media tycoon Robert Maxwell, met the Duke while studying history at the University of Oxford in the early 1980s. He later invited the now-disgraced socialite and her boyfriend Epstein to Windsor Castle and the Sandringham estate.

“What we saw at (Maxwell’s) trial is a mention of Prince Andrew and people of his stature,” Sigrid McCawley, a colleague of Mr Boies’ at Boies Schiller Flexner law firm, told this paper in December.

“The jury looked at Ghislaine, who has summered at the Queen’s homes and lived a life of incredible privilege associating with those types of people, and yet they disregarded all that,” she said. “I see a real change in the legal landscape. Not even princes and presidents are above the law.”