BBC News reported that Prince Andrew's friendship with
Jeffrey Epstein, an American
financier and convicted
sex offender, was producing "a steady stream of criticism" in March 2011, with calls for him to step down from his role as trade envoy.
[46] The Duke was also criticized in the media after Sarah Ferguson disclosed that he helped arrange for Epstein to pay off £15,000 of her debts.
[47][48] Prince Andrew had been photographed in December 2010 strolling with Epstein in
Central Park during a visit to New York City.
[49] In July 2011, the Duke's role as trade envoy was terminated and he reportedly cut all ties with Epstein.
[46][50]
On 30 December 2014, a
Florida court filing by lawyers Bradley J. Edwards and
Paul G. Cassell alleged that Prince Andrew was one of several prominent figures, including "a former prime minister"
[51] and lawyer
Alan Dershowitz, to have participated in sexual activities with a minor later identified as
Virginia Roberts Giuffre,
[52] who was allegedly
trafficked for sex by Epstein.
[53] An
affidavit from Giuffre was included in an earlier lawsuit from 2008 accusing the
U.S. Justice Department of violating the
Crime Victims Rights Act during Epstein's first criminal case by not allowing several of his victims to challenge his
plea deal; the Duke was otherwise not a party to the lawsuit.
[54]
In January 2015, there was renewed media and public pressure for Buckingham Palace to explain Prince Andrew's connection with Epstein.
[55] Buckingham Palace stated that "any suggestion of impropriety with underage minors is categorically untrue", later repeating the denials.
[56][57] Requests from Giuffre's lawyers for a statement from the Duke, under oath, about the allegations were returned unanswered.
[58][59]
Dershowitz vehemently denied the allegations in Giuffre's statement and sought
disbarment of the lawyers filing the suit.
[60][61][62] Edwards and Cassell sued Dershowitz for
defamation in January 2015; he countersued.
[63] The two parties settled in 2016 for an undisclosed financial sum.
[64] Epstein sued Edwards for civil
racketeering but later dropped his suit; Edwards countersued for
malicious prosecution with the result that Epstein issued a public apology to the lawyer in December 2018.
[65][66]
Giuffre (then known by her maiden name Virginia Roberts) asserted that she had sex with Prince Andrew on three occasions, including a trip to London in 2001 when she was 17,
[67] and later in New York and on
Little Saint James.
[68] She alleged Epstein paid her $15,000 to have sex with the Duke in London.
[67] Flight logs show the Duke and Giuffre were in the places she alleges the sex happened.
[69][70] Prince Andrew and Giuffre were also photographed together with his arm round her waist and included an Epstein associate,
Ghislaine Maxwell, standing in the background,
[71] though Andrew's supporters have repeatedly claimed the photo is fake and edited.
[72] Giuffre stated that she was pressured to have sex with the Duke and "wouldn't have dared object" as Epstein, through contacts, could have her "killed or abducted". The allegations have, as of early 2015, not been tested in any court.
[73]
On 7 April 2015, Judge
Kenneth Marra ruled that the "sex allegations made against Prince Andrew in court papers filed in Florida must be struck from the public record".
[74][75] Marra made no ruling as to whether claims by Giuffre are true or false, specifically stating that she may later give evidence when the case comes to court.
[76] Giuffre stated she would not "be bullied back into silence."
[77]
In August 2019, court documents associated with a defamation case between Giuffre and Maxwell revealed that a second girl, Johanna Sjoberg, gave evidence alleging that Prince Andrew had placed his hand on her breast while in Epstein's mansion posing for a photo with his
Spitting Image puppet.
[78] Later that month, the Duke released a statement, emphasizing that, "At no stage during the limited time I spent with [Epstein] did I see, witness or suspect any behaviour of the sort that subsequently led to his arrest and conviction," though he expressed regret for meeting him in 2010 after Epstein had already pleaded guilty to sex crimes for the first time.
[79] By the end of August 2019,
The New Republic also published an email exchange between
John Brockman and
Evgeny Morozov from September 2013 in which Brockman mentions seeing a British man nicknamed "Andy" receiving a foot massage from two Russian women at Epstein's New York residence during his last visit to the mansion in 2010. He then added that he "realized that the recipient of Irina's foot massage was His Royal Highness, Prince Andrew, the Duke of York".
[80]
