Prince Andrew has allegedly been named in secret new evidence detailing further allegations against his paedophile former friend Jeffrey Epstein.
A US judge will decide within the next six weeks whether to unseal more than 3,000 pages of new evidence about alleged crimes by the billionaire financier.
Hundreds of people are thought to be named in the files including the Duke of York as well as other well-known politicians and business figures, it has been claimed.
Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein are pictured together in New York’s Central Park in 2011
All of those named in the files, which include statements from 29 people, will be formally told before January so they can respond, reported the Daily Telegraph.
The evidence is allegedly linked to a defamation lawsuit by Epstein victim Virginia Roberts, now Virginia Giuffre, against his alleged co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell.
Andrew denied in a interview on BBC Newsnight on Saturday that he slept with Miss Roberts, on three separate occasions, twice while she was underage under US law.
He also said his relationship with Epstein had some ‘seriously beneficial outcomes’, giving him the chance to meet people and prepare for a future role as a trade envoy.
The new evidence is said to be linked to a defamation lawsuit filed in 2015 by Epstein victim Virginia Roberts Giuffre (right), pictured aged 17 with Prince Andrew in London in March 2001
Andrew said one alleged encounter with Ms Giuffre in 2001 did not happen as he spent the day with his daughter, Princess Beatrice, taking her to Pizza Express in Woking for a party.
The same alleged sexual liaison, which the American said began with the duke sweating heavily as they danced at London nightclub Tramp, was claimed to have been factually wrong as Andrew said he had a medical condition at the time which meant he did not sweat.
The Duke has been dealt a major blow this week after a sponsor of his flagship business project said it was not renewing support – as calls continued for him to make a statement about Epstein.
Andrew is facing the embarrassing prospect of charities and institutions he is associated with distancing themselves, as lawyers for the convicted sex offender’s victims urged him to tell US authorities what he knows.
The duke was caught up in further controversy when a newspaper columnist claimed Andrew used a racially-offensive word during a Buckingham Palace meeting in 2012.
The Queen and other senior royals are said to ‘back and believe’ Andrew’s defence of himself in the BBC interview ‘100 per cent’, sources told the Evening Standard.
One alleged Epstein victim gave an emotional account of her ordeal as she launched a civil lawsuit against the sex offender’s estate and made a direct appeal to the duke after her lawyer, Gloria Allred, called on him to make a statement.
The 31-year-old – known only as Jane Doe 15 – said: ‘I would also like to say I agree with Gloria that Prince Andrew, and any others that are close to Epstein, should come forward and give a statement under oath on what information they have.’
The fall-out from Andrew’s Newsnight appearance has already begun, with the Outward Bound Trust, which the duke supports as patron, saying it will hold a board meeting in the next few days when members will discuss issues raised by Saturday’s interview.
The student jury at Huddersfield University, where Andrew is chancellor, passed a motion to lobby the duke to resign, with a full statement expected from the Students’ Union today.
KPMG’s sponsorship contract with Andrew’s Pitch@Palace, a mentoring scheme for tech start-ups and entrepreneurs, expired at the end of October and will not be renewed.
Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca told the Daily Telegraph it is also reviewing its future with the mentoring scheme.
Andrew’s appearance on Newsnight to explain his friendship with the convicted sex offender and deny allegations of having sex with an under-age teenager has been widely condemned, but the duke is said to being standing by his decision to put his side of the story.
Prince Andrew is interviewed by Emily Maitlis on BBC’s Newsnight, broadcast on Saturday
US lawyer Spencer Kuvin, who represents a woman who claims she was a victim of Epstein, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that Andrew should come forward to help the ongoing investigation into the disgraced American financier.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson was asked if he would encourage Andrew to co-operate with US authorities about his knowledge of the disgraced financier’s activities but he brushed the question off, during an election campaign event at the CBI annual conference, saying ‘nice try there’.
It also emerged yesterday that Miss Roberts has given an interview to BBC’s Panorama.
It is understood that the 35-year-old reiterated her claims that she slept with Andrew when she was just 17 after being trafficked by Epstein.
The interview, which was filmed three weeks ago, is due to be broadcast in the coming weeks.
The duke’s interview on Saturday has been widely criticised, with commentators questioning his responses and condemning his unsympathetic tone and seeming lack of remorse over the friendship with Epstein, who killed himself in jail while facing sex trafficking charges.
The Evening Standard published on its front page the claim made by its columnist Rohan Silva that, while a Downing Street aide specialising in the tech economy, the duke made a racist remark.
He told the newspaper that, when he asked Andrew if the government department responsible for trade ‘could be doing a better job’, the duke replied: ‘Well, if you’ll pardon the expression, that really is the n***** in the woodpile.’
Sources have categorically denied that Andrew used the word. A Buckingham Palace spokesman declined to comment on the Telegraph’s report.