London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Oct 01, 2025

Claims that Prince Andrew failed to respond to FBI likely political, say prosecutors

Claims that Prince Andrew failed to respond to FBI likely political, say prosecutors

Andrew has said he is ‘angry and bewildered’ and denies reports that he has been contacted about the Jeffrey Epstein investigation
Claims made this week that Prince Andrew failed to respond to an FBI investigation into Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged sex trafficking conspiracy were likely issued by US investigators as an appeal for political support, former sex crime prosecutors say.

Earlier this week, US attorney for the Southern District of New York Geoffrey Berman took the extraordinary step of announcing from the steps of Epstein’s Upper East Side mansion in New York, that prosecutors and the FBI had repeatedly contacted the Duke of York’s lawyers to follow up on his previous pledge that he was “willing to help any appropriate law enforcement agency”.

“It’s fair for people to know whether Prince Andrew has followed through with that public commitment,” Berman said, adding that to date he had “provided zero cooperation”.

Andrew, who has been removed from royal duties, was subsequently reported to be “angry and bewildered” over the claim he has failed to cooperate and denied that he’d been approached. Andrew is “more than happy to talk”, sources told the Guardian, pouring water on any suggestion that he was going back on a commitment to help.

Between the claims and counter-claims from the British royal and US law enforcement lies a broad expanse of uncertainty on how the investigation into alleged co-conspirators will proceed after wealthy financier Epstein killed himself in detention in August while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

Despite Andrew’s assurances, any sit-down with US investigators would likely require political will to pursue effectively as much as legal argument, experts say, as the prince is a high profile international figure who lives overseas. And that political will might be unlikely to be forthcoming, argues former sex crimes prosecutor Wendy Murphy.

“At best they could issue a grand jury subpoena but to have it enforced is a political question. Even if they did charge him, how much effort would they put into extraditing him? That’s a nightmare on a good day. To enforce it in a foreign country you have to have permission of the foreign country and I don’t see the Queen saying, ‘Oh yes, we should force my son to submit himself to a foreign grand jury’,” Murphy said.

Any FBI interview Andrew agrees to give would be voluntary at this stage. His lawyers would arrange a date, time and place , or he could provide answers to written questions. US investigators could interview him in Britain.

Eric Baum, of New York law firm Eisenberg & Baum, who has represented victims in civil sexual harassment cases against celebrity chef Mario Batali and American Apparel’s Dov Charney, says any meeting could place the prince in legal jeopardy.

“If he comes in under oath, he will be required to tell the truth and provide specific details which could have criminal and political implications for him,” Baum said.

The questions for Andrew – should he agree to testify under oath – would likely be tailored to information they already have on him, said former FBI agent Jane Mason.

“The fascinating part of this is whether he could be charged with a federal crime. You have to assume that investigators have conducted many, many interviews and reviewed thousands of documents, so they’d know the answers to any questions they want to ask,” Mason said.

“The complicated part is that Andrew is overseas – prosecutors would have a lot more power to force an unwilling witness to testify here. But with added media pressure things might change. Failing to co-operate is not a good visual for him at all.”

A key element has been allegations from Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who has said Epstein pressured her into having sex with Andrew three times at Epstein’s request, including once in London in 2001.

Andrew has denied any knowledge that Epstein was sexually abusing teenage girls.. Andrew told the BBC in an interview he had “no recollection” of meeting Giuffre, and said on the night the alleged sex occurred he was at a Pizza Express in Woking.

But she remains a major facet of the investigation.

“I guarantee you she has more information, even if she hasn’t said it yet,” Murphy said. “No matter what, Andrew has got a king-size PR problem. That, to me, is why he’s been removed from royal duties. It’s to protect him, not punish him.”

Murphy worked with Paul Cassell, a Florida lawyer who represented several of Epstein’s alleged victims around the time the financier’s original federal investigation was resolved in a 2007 Florida state deal that required Epstein serve a brief sentence in Palm Beach .

At that time, she recalls, she believed political pressure was being brought to bear on the case. “It was represented as a plea deal that everyone was on board with, but it made a lot of people very anxious,” she said.

Thirteen years on, similar anxieties that permeated Epstein’s original deal exist now. Because of the high profiles of the men whose names have surfaced in connection with Epstein, any attempt to bring new charges is ultimately political.

“There are some ways to bring pressure to bear, but they’re more diplomatic than legal ... I don’t think there’s the political will to do it,” she added.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
Vietnam Faces Up to $25 Billion Export Loss as U.S. Tariffs Bite
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Indonesia Court Upholds Military Law Amid Concerns Over Expanded Civilian Role
Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch Join Trump-Backed Bid to Take Over TikTok
Trump and Musk Reunite Publicly for First Time Since Fallout at Kirk Memorial
Vietnam Closes 86 Million Untouched Bank Accounts Over Biometric ID Rules
×