NEW YORK: Prince Andrew has provided “zero cooperation” regarding late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and has yet to respond to a FBI request for an interview, a US prosecutor said Monday.
Andrew denies claims he had sex with a 17-year-old girl procured by Epstein and said in November he was “willing to help any appropriate law enforcement agency with their investigations, if required.”
But New York attorney Geoffrey Berman, who is leading an investigation into possible co-conspirators of the disgraced US financier, said his office and the FBI had not heard from Andrew despite his offer to assist.
“To date, Prince Andrew has provided zero cooperation,” Berman told reporters during a news conference outside Epstein’s former New York home where Andrew has admitted staying at in the past.
Buckingham Palace did not immediately respond to request for comment when contacted by AFP.
Queen Elizabeth II’s second son was forced to step back from royal duties after he faced outrage over an interview with the BBC late last year in which he defended his friendship with Epstein.
Andrew, 59, also denied having sexual relations with Virginia Giuffre, who alleges she was trafficked to have sex with friends of Epstein when she was 17.
Epstein, 66, killed himself in a New York jail last summer while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.
He was a multi-millionaire hedge fund manager who befriended countless celebrities over the years, including US President Donald Trump.
Epstein was charged with one count of sex trafficking of minors and another of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors.
He denied the charges but was facing up to 45 years in jail if found guilty.
Determined to obtain justice despite his death, dozens of women who say they were abused by Epstein have sued his estate and prosecutors have pledged to pursue any accomplices.
“Jeffrey Epstein couldn’t have done what he did without the assistance of others and I can assure you that our investigation is moving forward,” Berman said Monday.
Giuffre says she had sex with the prince at the central London home of Epstein’s socialite girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell in 2001.
In what proved to be a disastrous BBC interview, Andrew said he did not remember meeting Giuffre and that he “absolutely and categorically” did not have sex with her.
Afterwards he issued a statement in which he said he “I... unequivocally regret my ill-judged association with Jeffrey Epstein.”
While Epstein’s death has been ruled a suicide — with two prison guards charged for alleged failure to monitor him — it has also fueled conspiracy theories, mostly speculating he was murdered to stop him revealing compromising information about wealthy acquaintances.
Several of Epstein’s accusers have said Maxwell recruited them to provide sexual favors for Epstein and some of his associates.
Epstein was convicted in Florida in 2008 of paying young girls for massages but served just 13 months in jail under a secret plea deal struck with the then state prosecutor.
Prince Andrew accused of ‘zero cooperation’ in Epstein case
https://arab.news/6j6j6
Prince Andrew accused of ‘zero cooperation’ in Epstein case
- Andrew denies claims he had sex with a 17-year-old girl procured by Epstein
- “To date, Prince Andrew has provided zero cooperation,” New York attorney Geoffrey Berman told reporters
Zelensky says Russia using Belarus territory to circumvent Ukrainian defenses
- While President Lukashenko has vowed to commit no troops to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, he allowed Russia to use Belarusian territory to launch its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine
KYIV: President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday that Russia was using ordinary apartment blocks on the territory of its ally Belarus to attack Ukrainian targets and circumvent Kyiv’s defenses.
The Kremlin used Belarusian territory to launch its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine and Belarus remains a steadfast ally, though longstanding President Alexander Lukashenko has vowed to commit no troops to the conflict.
“We note that the Russians are trying to bypass our defensive interceptor positions through the territory of neighboring Belarus. This is risky for Belarus,” Zelensky wrote on Telegram after a military staff meeting.
“It is unfortunate that Belarus is surrendering its sovereignty in favor of Russia’s aggressive ambitions.”
Zelensky said Ukrainian intelligence had observed that Belarus was deploying equipment to carry out its attacks “in Belarusian settlements near the border, including on residential buildings.
“Antennae and other equipment are located on the roofs of ordinary five-story apartment buildings, which help guide ‘Shaheds’ (Russian drones) to targets in our western regions. This is an absolute disregard for human lives, and it is important that Minsk stops playing with this.”
The Russian and Belarusian defense ministries did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Zelensky said the staff meeting also discussed ways of financing interceptor drones, which officials in Kyiv see as the best economically viable means of tackling Russian drone attacks, which have grown in intensity in recent months.
The president said the Ukrainian military’s general staff had been charged with working out changes to strategy in fending off air attacks “to defend infrastructure and frontline positions.”
Lukashenko this month said Russia’s Oreshnik ballistic missile system, described by Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin as impossible to intercept, had been deployed to Belarus and entered active combat duty.
An assessment by two US researchers, reported by Reuters on Friday, said Moscow was likely stationing the nuclear-capable hypersonic Oreshnik at a former air base in eastern Belarus, a development that could bolster Russia’s ability to deliver missiles across Europe.
