An investigation into Prince Andrew’s friendship with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein has been ‘parked’ by the FBI, insiders have claimed.
Agents and attorneys are said to be ‘beyond frustrated’ at having to shelve the probe, a source says.
It is understood that ‘no new leads have been found for quite some time’ and the FBI’s investigation into the Duke of York will not proceed until ‘new evidence is presented that can move the case forward’.
A source close to the case told the Mirror: ‘The agents and attorneys who have, for years, worked diligently looking into Andrew’s friendship with Epstein are beyond frustrated.
‘They’re angry that the probe has been parked.’
An investigation into Prince Andrew’s friendship with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein has been ‘parked’ by the FBI , insiders have claimed
At the start of this year Andrew was referenced multiple times in files unsealed by a US court relating to disgraced financier Epstein
Epstein’s victims last night blasted the move as a ‘systematic cover-up’ as one said they ‘knew this day would one day come’.
It is claimed investigators’ time spent on the case has dwindled in the last year with resources now being diverted to work on the high profile case against hip-hop mogul Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs.
A second source confirmed ‘right now, resources are going elsewhere’ with it said the investigation into Andrew is at an ‘impasse’.
At the start of this year Andrew was referenced multiple times in files unsealed by a US court relating to disgraced financier Epstein.
The unredacted documents included allegations the duke had an orgy with underage girls and touched a woman’s breast while posing with a puppet of himself.
The 64-year-old prince, who has previously strenuously denied the allegations, paid millions a year ago to settle a civil case out of court with Virginia Giuffre with no admission of guilt after she accused him of sexually assaulting her when she was 17.
But he was mentioned more than 70 times in nearly 1,000 pages of interviews and transcripts released in the US in connection with a 2015 defamation case brought by Virginia Giuffre against Ghislaine Maxwell, who was jailed for sex trafficking young girls for Epstein.
At the start of this year Andrew was referenced multiple times in files unsealed by a US court relating to disgraced financier Epstein
The 64-year-old prince paid millions a year ago to settle a civil case out of court with Virginia Giuffre with no admission of guilt after she accused him of sexually assaulting her when she was 17
The names of more than 170 people who were either associates, friends or victims of Epstein are being made public following a judge’s order, including high-profile figures such as former US president Bill Clinton.
In 2022, a bombshell memoir by former top prosecutor in New York Geoffrey Berman claimed he got ‘absolutely nowhere’ with his efforts to bring Andrew to justice over his links to Epstein.
Berman, the former US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, wrote that Andrew’s lawyers brushed off his requests for an interview by saying they would ‘consider it’.
The Duke’s sparring with Berman began in November 2019 when Andrew gave a ‘disastrous’ interview to the BBC about his association with Epstein.
Epstein was arrested in August that year and Andrew was under fire over claims from Giuffre that she was trafficked to him three times for sex when she was 17.
Andrew issued a press statement saying that he would be willing to help with any law enforcement inquiries and said the same to the BBC.
But Berman wrote in ‘In Holding the Line: Inside the Nation’s Preeminent US Attorney’s Office and Its Battle with the Trump Justice Department’ that he quickly became frustrated after he asked two of his prosecutors to contact Andrew’s people to set up an interview.
They spent ‘two weeks just trying to find out who his lawyers were,’ Berman writes.
He writes: ‘We tried calling Buckingham Palace and they were not helpful. We tried the Department of Justice attaché and State Department, no luck. When we finally got his lawyers, they had all these questions.
‘What kind of interview will it be? Are there any protections? Is there this? Is there that? And we kept answering, and all that led to further questions and they’re saying you know ‘We’ll consider it’.
In January 2020 Berman was asked at a press conference outside Epstein’s mansion about Andrew’s help in the investigation. He replied there had been ‘zero cooperation.’
Epstein was found dead in his cell at a federal jail in Manhattan, New York, in August 2019 while he awaited trial on sex-trafficking charges. The death was ruled a suicide.
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