Prince Andrew is named in a cache of secret legal documents detailing explosive new allegations against Jeffrey Epstein that could be unsealed by a U.S. judge before the end of the year.
The revelation is just one of many fresh blows to have landed on Andrew, leaving him reeling in the aftermath of his disastrous BBC interview.
Andrew is facing growing calls to voluntarily co-operate with the FBI and is being dropped by sponsors and charities, fearful of damage-by-association after a BBC interview in which he said he didn’t regret his friendship with the billionaire pedophile, suggested a notorious image of him with his arm around Virginia Giuffre Roberts was fake, and bizarrely claimed he doesn’t sweat.
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In another hammer-blow for Andrew, Britain’s former Home Secretary told LBC radio she was left “slack-jawed” after she says Andrew made racist comments about Arabs, including an unspecified remark about camels, during a state banquet for the Saudis in 2007. On Monday, the palace was forced to deny Andrew used the n-word in discussions with a government adviser.
The Daily Telegraph reports Andrew could face further damaging claims about his friendship with the dead financier in the coming weeks, as a U.S. judge ponders whether to unseal more than 3,000 pages of new evidence about Epstein’s alleged crimes.
The documents formed part of a defamation lawsuit filed in 2015 (which was ultimately settled out of court) by Giuffre Roberts against the billionaire’s alleged former “madam,” the British heiress Ghislaine Maxwell. They include depositions from 29 people, including a number of new witnesses and even Epstein himself, the Telegraph reports.
Andrew is believed to be among hundreds of people named in the new documents who will be formally notified before the end of the year, to give them a chance to respond to the allegations if the papers are unsealed.
The Telegraph reports that a description of the sealed documents says they refer to “a range of allegations of sexual acts involving Plaintiff (Giuffre Roberts) and non-parties to this litigation, some famous, some not; the identities of non-parties who either allegedly engaged in sexual acts with Plaintiff or who allegedly facilitated such acts.”
The Telegraph says it has seen court records in which Maxwell seeks to block the release of the material, arguing that it comprises “thousands of pages containing confidential, sensitive, and private information about persons and unsubstantiated allegations... submitted to the Court for no valid purpose.”
One of the many unproven theories as to why Andrew agreed to do the interview circulating this week is that he hoped to burnish his own image ahead of further allegations emerging.
Giuffre Roberts has claimed repeatedly that she was brought to London by Epstein to have sex with the Queen’s middle son when she was age 17, and that an encounter took place at Maxwell’s home in the super-posh area of Belgravia. Andrew said it “simply didn’t happen” and that on the day in question he was at a Pizza Express with his daughters.
Andrew said he went to the chain restaurant between 4 and 5 p.m. and said he then spent the evening at home with his children because his ex-wife was away and they had an agreement that one of them should always be at home.
However, pictures have now emerged of both Andrew and Sarah Ferguson being overseas in separate destinations at other times while their children were back home in Britain.
Pictures have also emerged of Andrew sweating profusely, contradicting his claim that a PTSD-type condition prevented it, and another claim that he never wore casual clothes in London, made to try and cast doubt on the veracity of the photograph of him with his arm looped around the waist of Giuffre Roberts, has also been revealed as false.
The fresh U.S. legal threat came as Andrew faced calls to give a formal statement to the FBI from an unnamed woman who appeared with celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred to say that she was launching her own case against Epstein’s estate for allegedly abusing her at the age of 15. She said that the prospect of meeting Prince Andrew was used by Epstein to try and lure her to his Caribbean island.
The Jane Doe said Andrew and “any others who are close to Epstein should come forward and give a statement under oath on what information they have... I think he should make arrangements to speak to law enforcement as soon as possible.” She added that coming forward would “help survivors” and that Andrew could “set an example.”
Back in the U.K., Andrew’s world continued to crumble as it was revealed that KPMG will not renew its lapsed sponsorship of his Pitch @ Palace business entrepreneurship program, and drug firm AstraZeneca said it was reviewing its participation.
Standard Chartered bank said it won’t be renewing its sponsorship of the initiative when it ends in February, and the organization has removed a webpage boasting of its list of supporters.
Andrew also faces being cut loose from charities of which he is patron. The Outward Bound Trust, which also has the prince’s daughter Beatrice as a trustee, is holding a special meeting this week that could see Andrew ditched.
Students at Huddersfield University have launched a campaign for Prince Andrew to resign as chancellor, with a social-media campaign under the hashtag #NotMyChancellor.
It has also emerged that Giuffre Roberts filmed a BBC interview before Andrew gave his, and this may now be re-recorded in the light of Andrew’s claims.
A Sky News poll, meanwhile had more bad news for Andrew—saying that just 6 percent of the public believed his account of his friendship with Epstein.
