Prince Andrew ignored a letter sent to his home from one of Jeffrey Epstein’s victims who begged him to speak to the FBI ‘in the interests of justice’, according to a lawyer for one of the victims.
Gloria Allred represents Jane Doe 15, who claims she was abused by Epstein when she was 15 years old, and sent the letter on her behalf to the Duke of York saying his testimony could help her find ‘peace’.
Allred said that at first, she sent it to Andrew’s lawyers in the UK back in December.
But when his lawyers told her to send it directly to Prince Andrew, she never got a response – despite a FedEx delivery receipt confirming the royal had received it.
The revelation comes after federal prosecutor Geoffrey Berman stood on the doorstep of Epstein’s New York City mansion on Monday and shamed Prince Andrew for not cooperating, despite the royal saying he was willing to assist with the investigations into Epstein and his associates back in November.
The US Attorney for the Southern District of New York said prosecutors contacted Prince Andrew’s attorneys but hadn’t received a response – much like Allred and her client.
Prince Andrew ignored a letter sent to his home from one of Jeffrey Epstein’s victims who begged him to speak to the FBI ‘in the interests of justice’. Gloria Allred represents Jane Doe 15 (pictured together in November) who was abused by Epstein when she was 15 years old and sent the letter to the Duke of York, saying his testimony could help her find ‘peace’
Allred said that at first, she sent it to Andrew’s lawyers in the UK back in December. But when his lawyers told her to send it directly to Prince Andrew, she never got a response, despite a FedEx delivery receipt confirming the royal had received the letter
Allred’s letter to Prince Andrew included a copy of Jane Doe 15’s civil complaint that was filed to the New York Supreme Court. It also included the statement she read out at an emotional press conference in November.
The letter read in part: ‘Your Royal Highness, I write on behalf of my client Jane Doe 15.
‘We write to seek your cooperation and assistance in helping Jane Doe 15 and the other women who Epstein abused to bring out the truth about his predatory behavior.
‘You are no doubt aware by now that Epstein was a skilled manipulator and abuser of minor girls. A central element of that predatory behavior was to present himself as having immense wealth and connections to the world’s most powerful people.
‘After Epstein sexually assaulted Jane Doe 15, his representative contacted her again to attempt to lure her to Epstein’s private island. In trying to persuade her to fly there he conveyed to Jane Doe 15 that Epstein was close to you, that you would be among the guests on the private island and that she would have an opportunity to meet you.
‘In other words, your prestige and reputation were directly touted in his attempts to engage in further harm’.
The letter added: ‘By virtue of your many visits to Epstein’s homes and your familiarity with him personally you undoubtedly have relevant knowledge of the manner Epstein’s operated during the period he abused Jane Doe 15 and scores of other girls’.
The letter concludes that Prince Andrew should submit to an interview with the FBI and a deposition in Jane Doe 15’s lawsuit ‘in the interests of serving justice and helping the victims of Epstein to find peace’.
Jane Doe 15 (left and right as a teen) was just aged 15 when a female associate of Epstein’s began grooming her for sex with Epstein by gifting her an iPod. The associate then sexually assaulted her at Epstein’s New Mexico ranch before passing her off to the millionaire, according to her statement
The letter concludes that Prince Andrew should submit to an interview with the FBI and a deposition in Jane Doe 15’s lawsuit ‘in the interests of serving justice and helping the victims of Epstein to find peace’. Epstein killed himself in his NYC prison cell in August 2019
Allred said normally in circumstances such as this, the FBI has a liaison officer in London who arranges for people to be interviewed but ‘that hasn’t worked out in this case’.
She said if Prince Andrew ever set foot in the US, she would serve him for a deposition as part of her civil lawsuit brought by Jane Doe 15 against Epstein’s estate.
Speaking outside the Manhattan Criminal Court on Tuesdya, where she was attending the trial of Harvey Weinstein, Allred said: ‘What’s it going to take? Just because he’s a Prince doesn’t mean he shouldn’t provide the relevant information.
‘It’s not enough to be sympathetic when you are dealing with underage girls’.
Allred added: ‘Prince Andrew does not have to force everybody to jump through legal hoops in order to secure his testimony.
‘He could simply authorize his lawyers to accept our lawsuit and everyone else’s lawsuit rather than go through a long drawn out process where we end up serving him. My clients have voluntarily spoken to law enforcement. They didn’t need a subpoena to compel them’.
Meanwhile, Prince Andrew is facing heat from US federal prosecutors, who are pointing to his November statement where he said he was willing to help in their investigation.
‘Of course, I am willing to help any appropriate law enforcement agency with their investigations, if required,’ Prince Andrew said in a statement soon after being grilled about his ties to the disgraced financier in a TV interview.
Prosecutor George Berman made his latest remarks on Monday about the Epstein case during a joint appearance with members of Safe Horizon, a nonprofit victim services agency, to discuss a new New York law that makes it easier for people to sue over childhood sexual abuse.
The attorney wouldn’t discuss the investigation in detail, but did confirm that prosecutors are looking at possible ‘conspirators’ who worked with Epstein.
Prince Andrew is pictured with Epstein in Central Park in New York in February 2011
Meanwhile, Prince Andrew is facing heat from US federal prosecutors, who are pointing to his November statement saying he was willing to help in their investigation. Speaking to reporters outside Epstein’s Manhattan mansion on Monday, US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Geoffrey Berman said that prosecutors have contacted Prince Andrew’s attorneys but have not received a response
‘Jeffrey Epstein couldn’t have done what he did without the assistance of others, and I can assure you that the investigation is moving forward,’ Berman said.
The attorney declined to comment when asked if Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s accused madam, is cooperating with investigators.
Before responding to a reporter’s question about Andrew’s involvement in the investigation, Berman acknowledged that his office typically doesn’t comment on whether a particular individual is cooperating.
‘However, in Prince Andrew’s case, he publicly offered, indeed in a press release, offered to cooperate with law enforcement investigating the crimes committed by Jeffrey Epstein and his co-conspirators,’ Berman said.
Buckingham Palace is not commenting on the matter.
A source told DailyMail.com: ‘This issue is being dealt with by the Duke of York’s legal team.’
After Berman’s announcement, a lawyer for Virginia Roberts Giuffre, an Epstein accuser who claims she slept with Andrew, issued the following statement to The Daily Mail: ‘Prince Andrew’s continued refusal to cooperate with the authorities after freely acknowledging that he would be prepared to answer enquiries raises even more questions about the role he played in the international sex trafficking ring Jeffrey Epstein and others operated.
‘Prince Andrew should take most seriously the deeply held belief in this country that no one is above the law.’
Andrew has categorically denied having any knowledge that Epstein was sexually abusing teenage girls.
The prince announced that he was withdrawing from his royal duties late last year amid renewed attention over his friendship with Epstein, and Giuffre’s claim that she had several sexual encounters with the prince, starting when she was just 17.
Berman declined comment when asked if Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s accused madam, is cooperating with investigators. Epstein and Maxwell are pictured in 2005
Giuffre says that after meeting her in Florida in 2000, Epstein flew her around the world and pressured her into having sex with numerous older men, including Andrew, two senior US politicians, a noted academic, wealthy financiers and the attorney Alan Dershowitz, who is now part of President Donald Trump’s impeachment defense team.
All of those men have denied the allegations.
Giuffre has said she had sex with Andrew three times at Epstein’s request, including once in London in 2001 at the home of Epstein’s girlfriend, Maxwell.
Andrew has maintained that he does not recall ever meeting Giuffre – even though there is a photograph apparently showing him with his arm around the then-17-year-old on the night she says she first slept with him.
In the November TV interview with the BBC, Andrew insisted he did not spend time with Giuffre at Tramp Nightclub in London on March 10, 2001, after which she claims the pair first had sex.
The duke denied he slept with her on three separate occasions, saying the encounter in 2001 did not happen as he had taken his daughter Princess Beatrice to Pizza Express in Woking for a party, and they spent the rest of the day together.
Giuffre has previously described their alleged time together in London in vivid detail, claiming that Andrew had been ‘sweating’ as they danced together in the London nightclub.
Andrew disputed that detail, saying he has a ‘peculiar medical condition which is that I don’t sweat or I didn’t sweat at the time’.
He also said that her story didn’t make sense because he didn’t know where the bar in Tramp Nightclub is.
‘I don’t drink, I don’t think I’ve ever bought a drink in Tramps whenever I was there,’ he said.
Virginia Roberts, who claims that Prince Andrew had sex with her after Epstein trafficked her to London, is pictured with the Duke of York in 2001
In a November TV interview, Andrew maintained that he does not recall meeting Giuffre
Questioned about the photo of him and Giuffre together, which friends of the Duke have said could have been faked, Andrew said that public displays of affection are ‘not something he would do’ but refused to reveal whether he thought the image was doctored.
He said: ‘Oh it’s definitely me, I mean that’s a picture of me. I don’t believe it’s a picture of me in London because when I go out in London I wear a suit and a tie.
‘That’s what I would describe as my travelling clothes if I’m going to go overseas. There’s plenty of photographs of me dressed in that sort of kit but not there.’
US Attorney General William Barr has vowed to aggressively investigate and bring charges against anyone who may have helped Epstein, who killed himself in his jail cell last summer while he was awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
The case brought renewed scrutiny to Epstein’s many high-profile associates, including Andrew, who says he met the financier in 1999.
The pair maintained their friendship even after Epstein served 13 months in a Florida county jail after pleading guilty to charges of soliciting prostitution in 2008.
Andrew came under fire in 2010 after it was revealed that he stayed at Epstein’s Manhattan home following his release from jail.
Asked during the November interview whether he regretted continuing his friendship with Epstein, Andrew said: ‘Do I regret the fact that he has quite obviously conducted himself in a manner unbecoming? Yes.’
The BBC interviewer replied: ‘Unbecoming? He was a sex offender.’
Andrew then apologized, saying: ‘I’m being polite, I mean in the sense that he was a sex offender.
‘But no, was I right in having him as a friend? At the time, bearing in mind this was some years before he was accused of being a sex offender.
‘I don’t there was anything wrong then, the problem was the fact that once he had been convicted I stayed with him and that’s the bit that, as it were, I kick myself for on a daily basis because it was not something that was becoming of a member of the royal family and we try and uphold the highest standards and practices and I let the side down, simple as that.’