The Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein Controversy 1: 2010-2022

[Durham]

Can someone please explain why these people from NYC can't come to London? If the duke is willing as claimed to answer questions but not willing to go to the US what is the problem?

 

[Susan D]

The Epstein-Prince Andrew scandal just stinks and I ask, "Did Prince Andrew ever get money from Epstein?"

 

[Osipi]

Well... there's the supposed money that Epstein lent to Sarah to settle financial problems. Maybe Andrew didn't get a cash payout of any kind from Epstein but there's such things as riding on Epstein's coat tails and Epstein's clout within a circle of pretty powerful figures. Not to mention a place to stay, island vacations and free air travel on a private jet.

Its about a *lot* more than money. That's for sure.

 

[Muhler]

Well it would seem the Justice Department has responded to Andrew's statement.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1270074605923958785

"Today, Prince Andrew yet again sought to falsely portray himself to the public as eager and willing to cooperate with an ongoing investigation into sex trafficking," U.S. attorney Geoffrey Berman says in a statement.

If he has offered to cooperate then he should just do it. All this back and forth is odd.

He actually said that!!

A State Attorney went out and said that in public!?!

Andrews Legal team must be laughing themselves to sleep.

 

[Denville]

Oh, Ghislaine Maxwell has not exactly been quiet at all. Perhaps, thinking about this now, it could be a reason to refocus on Andrew again. I posted this article a few pages back but it may have been unnoticed until this thread was bumped up again with the DOJ/Andrew developments.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/ghislaine...hreats-extensive-legal-fees/story?id=69628102

I thought she was in hiding and noone knew where she was... so how can she inititate lawsuits?

 

[Pranter]

He actually said that!!

A State Attorney went out and said that in public!?!

Andrews Legal team must be laughing themselves to sleep.

I don't understand why you think they would be laughing?


LaRae

 

[Muhler]

I don't understand why you think they would be laughing?


LaRae

They can, with justification, claim that the State Attorney is biased and that Andrew will not be subjected to an objective and fair questioning. And that Andrew will risk being framed or at least have his reputation willfully ruined, despite his willingness to co-operate fully.
That the US Attorney is using bullying tactics.
Has a personal agenda.
Cannot be trusted to keep personal and otherwise irrelevant details to himself.

- Need I go on?

 

[Osipi]

I thought she was in hiding and noone knew where she was... so how can she inititate lawsuits?

I have no clue. Just passing on information I came across. ABC News here in the States is one of our major news channels and usually reputable.

 

[Alisa]

Deleted......

 

[Osipi]

Please reread my post. If he gets a top notched lawyer and is well coached and gets the questions in advanced he cannot mess it up!

Remember too who we're talking about. The first problem would be to get Andrew to listen and heed his lawyer's advice in the matter.

 

[MARG]

They can, with justification, claim that the State Attorney is biased and that Andrew will not be subjected to an objective and fair questioning. And that Andrew will risk being framed or at least have his reputation willfully ruined, despite his willingness to co-operate fully.
That the US Attorney is using bullying tactics.
Has a personal agenda.
Cannot be trusted to keep personal and otherwise irrelevant details to himself.

- Need I go on?

That was my thinking but I was a little chicken to infer they were untrustworthy or even corrupt. That they have not enough need to issue a warrant or travel to the UK says it all.

Because of that it makes it easy to alienate him by using his supposed "withholding knowledge" to burnish their public image while losing nothing if he refuses to communicate with them in any way.

 

[Lumutqueen]

Looks like Andrews legal team thinks along the lines of Muhler as well;

https://twitter.com/x/status/1270094505971253248

 

[Curryong]

Any excuse to delay cooperation and to refuse to answer questions is better than none.

 

[Nice Nofret]

For me Andrew is only used to draw attention away from the real culpits in this sad and unsettling story of sexual abuse.



Even IF Andrew had sex with Virginia Roberts - it was not a crime even if I don't like it.

But for US Jusice system it is much more comfortable to go after Andrew then to go after President Trump or any other of the highflying powerfull american men who where involved in Epsteins doings, and who enabled Epstein to keep on beeing a pedophile.



And the some thousand pounds or whatever Sarah got from him? Just money for the coffeebox.


I'm 1000% sure there are much more substantial payments going from and to Epstein -

The question still is - how much hush money and blackmail money was payed to Epstein by whom and for what crimes - to get him as rich as he got and to live that lavish livestyle.

 

[Iluvbertie]

I have read elsewhere that what they want from Andrew is the dirt of the 'big guys' in the US - not just Trump - but other powerful men. As a result he is rightly scared for his life if he speaks out (especially if they did manage to kill Epstein).

If that is correct then it also makes sense that the Queen believes Andrew needs a high level of security.

A less well known person could be put into witness protection by you can't hide the second son of The Queen. It would also explain why he won't go back to the US - he is harder to reach in the UK than he would be in the US.

 

[Lumutqueen]

I have read elsewhere that what they want from Andrew is the dirt of the 'big guys' in the US - not just Trump - but other powerful men. As a result he is rightly scared for his life if he speaks out (especially if they did manage to kill Epstein).

If that is correct then it also makes sense that the Queen believes Andrew needs a high level of security.

A less well known person could be put into witness protection by you can't hide the second son of The Queen. It would also explain why he won't go back to the US - he is harder to reach in the UK than he would be in the US.

This is an interesting take on the situation as a whole, if true it explains the lack of “excommunication” Andrew has received.

Thanks iluvbertie.

 

[Mbruno]

I have read elsewhere that what they want from Andrew is the dirt of the 'big guys' in the US - not just Trump - but other powerful men. As a result he is rightly scared for his life if he speaks out (especially if they did manage to kill Epstein).

It is far more likely that Epstein had "dirt" on top Democrats than on Trump.

 

[Iluvbertie]

That is why I said 'other powerful men'. We know Trump mixed with Epstein as there are images of him but there will be others' - possibly some Democrats and some Republicans.

 

[Claire]

I have read elsewhere that what they want from Andrew is the dirt of the 'big guys' in the US - not just Trump - but other powerful men. As a result he is rightly scared for his life if he speaks out (especially if they did manage to kill Epstein).

If that is correct then it also makes sense that the Queen believes Andrew needs a high level of security.

A less well known person could be put into witness protection by you can't hide the second son of The Queen. It would also explain why he won't go back to the US - he is harder to reach in the UK than he would be in the US.

Yep - I agree. That seems to be a sticking point. They want the dirt he refuses to talk. It is possible that actually doesn't know about the rest. He might have been in the dark about the rest of Epstein's dealings. I really think they are trying to go after the King Pin here - Andrew is just the guy that they can go hard on to get closer.

But if you were in Andrew's position - why wouldn't you sing like a canary. I mean he has protection . It is not like this is going to ruin his reputation. Rip off the whole band aid, and get it done with.

 

[Iluvbertie]

If I was in Andrew's position and knew something about powerful people in the US I would keep my mouth shut. One police officer isn't much protection (and we learnt late last week that he has three which means one at any time as he has 24/7 security).

He also has to consider his family.

His reputation isn't going to recover whether he says anything or not but if it is the dirt the DoJ wants and he is genuinely afraid for his life and that of his family he would be a fool to speak ... as he would be a dead man, as would his daughters and ex-wife.

 

[Lumutqueen]

But if you were in Andrew's position - why wouldn't you sing like a canary. I mean he has protection . It is not like this is going to ruin his reputation. Rip off the whole band aid, and get it done with.

I think we only have to take one look at what happened to Mr Epstein to see why no one would sing like a canary.

 

[Mirabel]

I doubt Andrew knows much at all; he can be obtuse, and Epstein probably was careful around him.

I'm wondering if the investigation has stalled, and that's why they are trying to put pressure on Andrew.

 

[Denville]

I doubt Andrew knows much at all; he can be obtuse, and Epstein probably was careful around him.

I'm wondering if the investigation has stalled, and that's why they are trying to put pressure on Andrew.

I don't think that Epstein was particularly "careful" by what I've read about his houses with the sexually explicit decorations. But I think that Andrew doesn't "notice" a lot of things.. esp people whom he regards as lower status.. So he probably could not tell much about who associated with Epstein, because unless they were of equal status to him, or of use to him (rich contacts) he simply would not pay any heed to them. If there were young women around Andrew would not pay any attention because they were just there to supply favours to him and the other wealthy men who hung around. So he couldn't name names out of a genuine lack of information..

 

[ACO]

Andrew acts like a man with something to hide. Whether he does or doesn't... who knows. I doubt we will ever really know, but so much of this could have been dealt with ages ago.

 

[rmay286]

I get the impression that Andrew may not to want to subject himself to a grilling by the US Department of Justice, not because he's worried about incriminating himself, but because he might incriminate others.

I don't know much about law, but I assume they could ask him questions about the other people involved with Epstein...the prominent and wealthy people Andrew WAS paying attention to and does know. If he betrays them, what consequences could he face from them?

I think that's why he's not speaking.

And by the way, one of those prominent people Andrew does know and has admitted to being friends with is Ghislaine Maxwell herself.

 

[Denville]

I get the impression that Andrew may not to want to subject himself to a grilling by the US Department of Justice, not because he's worried about incriminating himself, but because he might incriminate others.

I don't know much about law, but I assume they could ask him questions about the other people involved with Epstein...the prominent and wealthy people Andrew WAS paying attention to and does know. If he betrays them, what consequences could he face from them?

I think that's why he's not speaking.

And by the way, one of those prominent people Andrew does know and has admitted to being friends with is Ghislaine Maxwell herself.

Then he shoudlnt' say that he was willing to try and help the FBI.

 

[rmay286]

Then he shoudlnt' say that he was willing to try and help the FBI.

I think he should have been more guarded about a lot of things he said in that interview...which is another reason maybe his legal team might not want him to be interviewed. There's such a thing as telling the truth and then such a thing as oversharing details that don't need to be shared.

In that interview, a media-savvy person would have said, "I would need to consult my legal team before I agree to anything." I think Andrew mentioned consulting with legal officials but that he was willing to speak, and that seems like a mistake now.

 

[tommy100]

I think it is clear that Andrew and his legal team don't want him to travel to the US for him to answer questions. To be honest the more this NY State Attorney attacks Andrew personally the less likely that is to happen. I don't like Andrew at all but I can see why he and his team wouldn't trust Berman. Any meeting, even a private one, would probably be accidentally "leaked".

There is clearly something more going on and maybe Berman is trying to use Andrew "not speaking" (i.e. not travelling to the US to talk to them) as an excuse for why little progress seems to be being made. Just my opinion.

 

[Fem]

Well it would seem the Justice Department has responded to Andrew's statement.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1270074605923958785

"Today, Prince Andrew yet again sought to falsely portray himself to the public as eager and willing to cooperate with an ongoing investigation into sex trafficking," U.S. attorney Geoffrey Berman says in a statement.

If he has offered to cooperate then he should just do it. All this back and forth is odd.

Why does it seem to me like it's Mr. Berman who doesn't want Andrew to talk at all? The more they're putting out there in the public the less likely it is that the interview will happen. Why, instead of contacting Andrew and his legal team, he's going public with that, what the hell... This whole thing is so messed up on so many levels

Also I wouldn't be surprised if Andrew's condition, that they can't agree on, is the interview being either online or done in the UK.

I literally don't have an opinion, it's like there's a 100 theories in my head and neither is more probable than the others

 

[sndral]

My understanding of the chronology of the most recent events is as follows:
About a month ago the DOJ filed an MLA w/ the UK’s central authority pursuant to the treaty which provides for the UK’s legal system to ‘assist’ in the US’s effort to question Andrew.
A couple of days ago, the fact that the MLA was filed was leaked. We do not know who leaked the info., it could have been the US Attorney’s office or DOJ, it could have been someone at the UK’s central authority, it could have been someone on Andrew’s legal team, etc.. I can’t help but recall that the UK press has a history of bugging the phones of Royals.
In reaction to the leak Andrew’s legal team issued a statement saying he’d offered to co-operate as a witness and accusing the US attorney of seeking publicity- eg trying to frame the issue in favor of their client.
In response the US atty. said no, he’s not been willing to co-operate.