The Prince Andrew / Jeffrey Epstein / Ghislaine Maxwell Thread

[Robert]

Now the military chiefs are saying the Duke should step down from his honorary appointments as he is an embarrassment to HM Armed Forces.

 

[Technics 1210]

Now the military chiefs are saying the Duke should step down from his honorary appointments as he is an embarrassment to HM Armed Forces.

His decision to take the interview has to be right up there with Theresa May's decision to call an election in 2017!

Contender for the Darwin award?

 

[Robert]

His decision to take the interview has to be right up there with Theresa May's decision to call an election in 2017!

Contender for the Darwin award?

From what I hear he is an arrogant man who will not take advice and has an inflated idea of his intelligence.

 

[sweep_shot]

A US woman who says she was forced to have sex with the Duke of York aged 17 has given her first UK television interview - on Monday's BBC Panorama.

Virginia Giuffre, one of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein's accusers, says both she and Prince Andrew "know what happened".

The prince "categorically" denies having any sexual contact with her.

Earlier the Met Police defended its decision not to probe a trafficking claim by Ms Giuffre against Epstein.

The force said it stood by its conclusion that it was "not the appropriate authority" to investigate the American woman's claims.

Ms Giuffre - then called Virginia Roberts - alleges she was forced to have sex with Prince Andrew three times between 2001 - when she was 17 - and 2002, in London, New York and Epstein's private island in the US Virgin Islands.

Buckingham Palace has described the allegations as "false and without any foundation".

In an interview with BBC Newsnight's Emily Maitlis earlier this month, the prince said the alleged incidents "never happened".

In a special hour-long Panorama, to be aired on BBC One on 2 December but recorded before the Newsnight interview, Ms Giuffre says: "It was a really scary time in my life.

"He knows what happened, I know what happened. And there's only one of us telling the truth."

Prince Andrew - the Queen's third child - has been facing questions over his ties to Epstein, a US financier who took his own life in August awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.

The prince has faced a growing backlash following an the Newsnight interview about his friendship with the US financier.

He has stepped back from royal duties because the Epstein scandal has become a "major disruption" to the Royal Family.

He later said he deeply sympathised with sex offender Epstein's victims and everyone who "wants some form of closure".

Companies he has links with, such as BT and Barclays, have joined universities and charities in distancing themselves from him.

In a statement, the prince said he was "willing to help any appropriate law enforcement agency with their investigations, if required".

During his Newsnight interview, Prince Andrew said he could not recall ever meeting Ms Giuffre and said that on the night she claims they first met he had gone to Pizza Express in Woking and then returned home.

He sought to cast doubt on her testimony claiming that he was "profusely sweating" in a nightclub, saying that a medical condition at the time meant he could not perspire.

Ms Giuffre's latest comments form part of a longer investigation by Panorama into the Epstein scandal and the prince's links with the convicted child sex offender.

During the programme, BBC reporter Darragh MacIntyre will also look at another of the prince's friends, Ghislaine Maxwell, investigating her alleged links to the Epstein scandal.

'Position unchanged'
Earlier on Thursday, the Metropolitan Police defended its decision not to investigate a claim of trafficking by Ms Giuffre.

She says the force failed to check her allegation that she had been trafficked to London in 2001 by Epstein.

Commander Alex Murray said that after taking legal advice, "it was clear that any investigation into human trafficking would be largely focused on activities and relationships outside the UK".

The Met reviewed that decision after Epstein died in US custody earlier this year.

Commander Murray said that "our position remains unchanged".

Panorama: The Prince and the Epstein Scandal will air on Monday at 21:00 GMT, BBC One.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-50586345.

 

[James]

From what I hear he is an arrogant man who will not take advice and has an inflated idea of his intelligence.

Fits the profile of a sexually abusive person I’m afraid.

 

[KingKhanWC]

From what I hear he is an arrogant man who will not take advice and has an inflated idea of his intelligence.

The man is the son of the Queen . This is a disgrace but either being brushed under the carpet or people saying poor tactics.

Surely he should be forced to face questions? Or is being a pedophile ok as long as it doesn’t give good ol Blighty a bad image ?

 

[sweep_shot]

Prince Andrew is awful and self-righteous and dim. That much seems clear, and the story of his association with Jeffrey Epstein seems likely to get worse: There are rumors that Prince Andrew will be asked to talk to U.S. law enforcement agencies about Epstein. Johanna Sjoberg has accused Andrew of groping her at Epstein’s home. A BBC interview with Andrew’s main accuser, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, will air on Monday, in which she describes the “really scary time” in her life. (He has denied the accusations.) Prince Andrew’s now-notorious BBC interview was, his assurances to his mother the queen notwithstanding, a disaster. Within days, the royal family forced him to step down, and he’s had to move his offices out of Buckingham Palace. The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra has severed ties with him. Queen Elizabeth even canceled his birthday party.

Spoiler

For Americans, this is disorienting, maybe even mesmerizing. On the one hand, the squalid, casual abuse of which Prince Andrew stands accused is horribly familiar: There’s a pattern of rich and powerful men preying on weaker parties in this country, and at the highest levels of leadership. On the other hand, it’s astonishing to witness a man of that stature facing discipline and expulsion from a power structure that includes members of his literal family. That’s unimaginable here (imagine one Trump disciplining another!). However laughably light Andrew’s “punishments” might seem—the man is still a millionaire several times over, has lived a life of immense privilege, and doesn’t seem to be in imminent danger of (for example) going to prison—he is disgraced. And he lives in a social world where disgrace must actually sting. Americans don’t live in that society. Even Harvey Weinstein is now being invited to events, and those who object are being kicked out. Prince Andrew has been ostracized (by the British public and the press) and yet Donald Trump still enjoys wide support from his base; despite many credible accusations of assault, his supporters blame the women he allegedly abused. This might partly explain why Americans remain so fascinated by the royals: They seem to be the one kind of world-famous celebrity for whom strict standards of conduct and restraint are even notionally enforced.

If you’ve watched Netflix’s The Crown, which dramatizes the long life of Queen Elizabeth II, you’ve seen that show thematize, time and again, how the monarch’s work has been to strip herself of her individuality in order to better serve the office: The queen functions as the ultimate anti-Trump. She was not, except under the strictest, most controlled circumstances, to express preferences or opinions. The office required a studied, careful neutrality, and this became all the more important as the Crown’s real power diminished. When commitment to that principle flagged—whenever a royal let himself be guided more by personal inclinations than duty—disaster struck. The royal scandals the show covers are quite minor, but they have outsize consequences: King Edward VIII abdicated the throne in order to marry Wallis Simpson, who’d married too many times to be queen. Princess Margaret was not allowed to marry a divorced man, so she married one who had affairs, and had a few of her own.
By the time Charles and Diana came along, the sex scandals got uglier and their consequences messier. But the royal family was clinging desperately to its soft power, and it did so by trading on the one thing it had that other celebrities didn’t: the veneer of intense respectability.

That veneer is crumbling. It’s not exactly a secret that the royal family is punishing Andrew because of his bad press, not his bad actions, accounts of which surfaced as long ago as 2015. Prince Charles, Vanity Fair reported, “has stayed silent about the interview, but multiple reports have emerged that he was less than pleased about his trip being overshadowed in the headlines.” According to Fox News, he’s angry that his environmental-awareness tour “has been completely overshadowed by the 59-year-old’s scandal impacting the British royal family.”

These are petty concerns, and yet they’ve produced a desirable result: A bad man who associated with horrifying people has lost things that mattered to him. Someone enforced a consequence. The queen might still be on his side—Andrew is reportedly her favorite, and she went horseback riding with him the day after his resignation—but the pomp and circumstance on which so much of his self-image depended has been taken from him. He is in disgrace in a world where disgrace is still a category.

The United Kingdom and the United States bear striking similarities. When it comes to hard politics, both governments are currently led by oddly coiffed misogynistic leaders whose fans love them for their misconduct, dishonesty, and lack of impulse control. But the royal family is different: It still at least notionally aspires to standards political leaders seem to have abandoned. Americans watch the royals, rapt, for signs of slippage and failure, but also out of a kind of awe at how long they’ve sustained the illusion of honor. Yes, they’re mooches and hypocrites, but—as my colleague Ben Mathis-Lilley has written—maybe hypocrisy is better than the alternative.

Source: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/11/prince-andrew-interview-disaster.html.

 

[Robert]

The man is the son of the Queen . This is a disgrace but either being brushed under the carpet or people saying poor tactics.

Surely he should be forced to face questions? Or is being a pedophile ok as long as it doesn’t give good ol Blighty a bad image ?

Well, if the US DoJ want to start extradition proceedings that is up to them.

Until someone is tried and found guilty I would never use the p-word.

 

[KingKhanWC]

Well, if the US DoJ want to start extradition proceedings that is up to them.

Until someone is tried and found guilty I would never use the p-word.

Do you not want him to face questions? This isn't some V.A.T fraud for £2.50, it's paedophilia. Why is the British government and others not demanding we investigate him fully or with the Yanks?

 

[MenInG]

A US woman who says she was brought to Britain aged 17 to have sex with Prince Andrew has implored the British public to "stand beside her" and "not accept what has happened to her".

Virginia Giuffre, one of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein's accusers, says she was trafficked to London by Epstein in 2001.

She describes how Epstein's girlfriend told her what "to do for Andrew".

The prince has "categorically" denied any sexual contact with Ms Giuffre.

Virginia Giuffre, formerly Virginia Roberts, has given her first interview for British television as part of a special hour-long Panorama. Her interview includes her account of how she was introduced to Prince Andrew.

Spoiler

She said that she, the prince, Epstein and his then girlfriend, the socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, took her to Tramp night club in London, where the Prince asked her to dance.

"He is the most hideous dancer I've ever seen in my life", she says. "His sweat was like it was raining basically everywhere".

When they had left the club, Ms Giuffre said Ghislaine Maxwell gave her instructions.

"In the car Ghislaine tells me that I have to do for Andrew what I do for Jeffrey and that just made me sick."

She said that later that evening, she had sex with Prince Andrew upstairs at Maxwell's house in Belgravia.

In an interview with BBC Newsnight's Emily Maitlis last month, the prince said he didn't recall meeting Virginia Roberts, and that he had a medical condition that meant he did not sweat. However, of the claim that he had sex with her, the Prince said he could "absolutely and categorically" say "it never happened".

Asked about a photo that appears to show him with his arm around Virginia Giuffre's waist in Maxwell's house, the Prince said he didn't recall the photograph ever being taken and questioned whether it was his hand in the picture.

But in the Panorama interview, which was recorded before Prince Andrew's interview, Ms Giuffre said: "The people on the inside are going to keep coming up with these ridiculous excuses like his arm was elongated or the photo was doctored.

"I'm calling ** on this," she said. "He knows what happened, I know what happened. And there's only one of us telling the truth."

In response to tonight's Panorama, Buckingham Palace said the Duke "unequivocally regrets his ill-judged association with Jeffrey Epstein" and "deeply sympathises with those affected who want some form of closure."

They said "it is emphatically denied that the Duke of York had any form of sexual contact or relationship with Virginia Roberts. Any claim to the contrary is false and without foundation".

Prince Andrew - the Queen's third child - has been facing questions over his ties to Epstein, a US financier who took his own life in August awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.

The prince has faced a growing backlash since the Newsnight interview about his friendship with the US financier.

He stepped back from royal duties last month because he said the Epstein scandal had become a "major disruption" to the Royal Family.

Companies he had links with, such as BT and Barclays, also joined universities and charities in distancing themselves from him.

After his BBC interview he said he deeply sympathised with sex offender Epstein's victims and everyone who "wants some form of closure".

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-50607705

 

[Robert]

Do you not want him to face questions? This isn't some V.A.T fraud for £2.50, it's paedophilia. Why is the British government and others not demanding we investigate him fully or with the Yanks?

At the moment all I see is that the Duke had a very unwise friendship with Jeffrey Epstein who was convicted of sex with an underage girl and to sex trafficking of minors in the USA. He should have cut ties upon Epstein's conviction. It was very stupid not to have done so.

What crime do you think was committed in the UK? It's up to an alleged victim of an alleged crime in the UK to make a complaint to Police in the UK, in which case the CPS may bring charges, not the Government as we aren't a police state.

Virginia Roberts made an allegation in a Florida civil court about the Duke, which has been stricken from the public record. There's no American criminal investigation ongoing as far as I know.

If somebody makes a credible allegation to the Police, then let the Duke face questioning and if necessary his accuser in criminal court.

 

[KingKhanWC]

At the moment all I see is that the Duke had a very unwise friendship with Jeffrey Epstein who was convicted of sex with an underage girl and to sex trafficking of minors in the USA. He should have cut ties upon Epstein's conviction. It was very stupid not to have done so.

What crime do you think was committed in the UK? It's up to an alleged victim of an alleged crime in the UK to make a complaint to Police in the UK, in which case the CPS may bring charges, not the Government as we aren't a police state.

Virginia Roberts made an allegation in a Florida civil court about the Duke, which has been stricken from the public record. There's no American criminal investigation ongoing as far as I know.

If somebody makes a credible allegation to the Police, then let the Duke face questioning and if necessary his accuser in criminal court.

He should be sent to the US to face questions. If he's not guilty, nothing to worry about right? He's the Prince, son of the Queen. He is holding a public role ,we have a right to know if he's a peado, which seems to be the case but it seems you don't want to the Royal family held accountable.

Stop defending everything British, that's Nigel Farage and Boris's job.

 

[Knight_Rider]

At the moment all I see is that the Duke had a very unwise friendship with Jeffrey Epstein who was convicted of sex with an underage girl and to sex trafficking of minors in the USA. He should have cut ties upon Epstein's conviction. It was very stupid not to have done so.

What crime do you think was committed in the UK? It's up to an alleged victim of an alleged crime in the UK to make a complaint to Police in the UK, in which case the CPS may bring charges, not the Government as we aren't a police state.

Virginia Roberts made an allegation in a Florida civil court about the Duke, which has been stricken from the public record. There's no American criminal investigation ongoing as far as I know.

If somebody makes a credible allegation to the Police, then let the Duke face questioning and if necessary his accuser in criminal court.

Looks like your wish is about to come true:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-50633640

 

[James]

The allegations about Andrew having sex with Virginia Roberts are very strong, and the already infamous “I was at Pizza Express in Woking / I can’t medically sweat / that picture has been photoshopped” alibis that he has offered up in response are laughable.

There is also the highly questionable account we are being asked to believe that Andrew stayed at Jeffrey Epstein’s house for 4 nights in a guest bedroom, during a week-long booze, drugs and sex party, wherein he has already admitted that there was a revolving door of young women, and yet Andrew apparently did not get involved in any of this (did he just sit around twiddling his thumbs and watching American daytime telly?) - apparently he was only there to pinch a few minutes of Epstein’s time, to tell him on a garden walk that their friendship had to come to an end, and yet he stayed for most of the week. Doing what?

Andrew’s stories are full of holes, his body language and attitude are arrogant and ice-cold, and he is just not trustworthy at all. He needs to testify in a legal setting.

 

[Robert]

He should be sent to the US to face questions. If he's not guilty, nothing to worry about right? He's the Prince, son of the Queen. He is holding a public role ,we have a right to know if he's a peado, which seems to be the case but it seems you don't want to the Royal family held accountable.

Stop defending everything British, that's Nigel Farage and Boris's job.

We don’t deport our citizens to “face questions” overseas. If the Yank coppers want to interrogate the Duke, their DoJ can attempt to extradite him. This is how we do things legally.

 

[Robert]

The allegations about Andrew having sex with Virginia Roberts are very strong, and the already infamous “I was at Pizza Express in Woking / I can’t medically sweat / that picture has been photoshopped” alibis that he has offered up in response are laughable.

There is also the highly questionable account we are being asked to believe that Andrew stayed at Jeffrey Epstein’s house for 4 nights in a guest bedroom, during a week-long booze, drugs and sex party, wherein he has already admitted that there was a revolving door of young women, and yet Andrew apparently did not get involved in any of this (did he just sit around twiddling his thumbs and watching American daytime telly?) - apparently he was only there to pinch a few minutes of Epstein’s time, to tell him on a garden walk that their friendship had to come to an end, and yet he stayed for most of the week. Doing what?

Andrew’s stories are full of holes, his body language and attitude are arrogant and ice-cold, and he is just not trustworthy at all. He needs to testify in a legal setting.

Ok, he is arrogant and untrustworthy but what crime to you think he has committed? Virginia Roberts was of legal age at the time of the allegations.

I am playing Devil’s Advocate here because I want to know what he is supposed to have done wrong, other than have a deeply unwise association with a sex trafficker criminal, which is not in itself a criminal act though obviously the mud sticks.

 

[Robert]

Looks like your wish is about to come true:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-50633640

Reading the article, the applications for subpoenas have to be signed off by a judge when the Duke is on US soil.

Bet he doesn’t set foot on US oil ever again....

 

[Abdullah719]

Prince Andrew must testify says Epstein accusers' lawyer

Spoiler

Five women who accuse Jeffrey Epstein of abusing them say Prince Andrew witnessed how people were given massages at the sex offender's homes.

The lawyer for the women has told BBC Panorama he plans to serve subpoenas to force the Duke of York to testify as a witness in all five cases.

He says the prince could have important information about sex trafficking.

The prince says he did not witness or suspect any suspicious behaviour during visits to Epstein's homes.

Epstein took his own life in a jail cell in August, aged 66, while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

The lawyer for victims of the US financier, David Boies said: "One of the things that we have tried is to interview Prince Andrew and to try to get what his explanation is. He was a frequent visitor. They ought to submit to an interview. They ought to talk about it."

The subpoenas - court summonses to give testimony - have been prepared for all five cases and would have to be signed off by a judge once the prince was on US soil.

He would then be able to challenge the subpoena in court if he did not want to give evidence.

Panorama also uncovered new information about the infamous photo of Prince Andrew with his arm around 17-year-old Virginia Giuffre - then called Virginia Roberts.

She said that she, the prince, Epstein and his then girlfriend, the socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, went to Tramp night club in London.

Ms Giuffre said that in the car on the way back "Ghislaine tells me that I have to do for Andrew what I do for Jeffrey and that just made me sick".

When they got back to the house, she said she asked Epstein to take a picture of her to show her family. She then carried out the instructions to entertain the prince.

"Well there was a bath and it started there and then it led into the bedroom and it didn't last very long, the whole entire procedure.

"It was disgusting. He wasn't mean or anything, but he got up and he said thanks and walked out."

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-50633640

 

[MenInG]

Virginia Roberts Giuffre has said she is "not suicidal" in case something happens to her because "many evil people" want her silenced.

The 36-year-old has repeatedly said she was trafficked by convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and pressured into having sex with Prince Andrew in 2001 when she was 17.

In response to a tweet written about her that said "F.B.I. will kill her to protect the ultra rich and well connected...", the mother-of-three informed her followers she was not suicidal in "no way, shape or form".

She added: "If something happens to me - in the sake of my family do not let this go away and help me to protect them. Too many evil people want to see me quieted."

Spoiler

Prince Andrew has strenuously denied he had "any form of sexual contact or relationship" with Mrs Roberts Giuffre, adding "any claim to the contrary is false and without foundation".

He has said he has no recollection of meeting Mrs Roberts Giuffre and that a photo appearing to show them together may have been doctored.

In her first UK interview earlier this month on BBC's Panorama, she said of the duke: "He knows what happened. I know what happened, and there's only one of us telling the truth."

Mrs Roberts Giuffre told Panorama about their alleged meeting in the London nightclub Tramp.

She said: "He is the most hideous dancer I've ever seen in my life.

"I mean it was horrible and this guy was sweating all over me, like his sweat was like it was raining basically everywhere I was just like grossed out from it but I knew I had to keep him happy because that's what Jeffrey and Ghislaine would have expected from me."

Then known as Virginia Roberts, she says she was brought to London by Epstein and his partner Ghislaine Maxwell in 2001 and was introduced to the prince.

Later that evening, she said she was instructed to have sex with the duke.

The interview was aired after - but recorded before - Andrew's own interview on BBC Newsnight.

Andrew used his Newsnight interview to counter her claims that he sweated heavily during one of their encounters. He told the programme he had lost the ability to sweat following his service in the Falklands War.

His responses in the interview were widely criticised, with many companies who had an association with his charity projects withdrawing their support.

Within a week, Andrew released a statement confirming that he would be stepping back from his public duties.

Mrs Roberts Giuffre had also told Panorama that it was "**" to say the photo of the two of them had been doctored.

She said: "The people on the inside are going to keep coming up with these ridiculous excuses. Like his arm was elongated or the photo was doctored, or he came to New York to break up with Jeffrey Epstein. I mean, come on, I'm calling ** on this, because that's what it is."

In response to the Panorama interview, Buckingham Palace said the duke "unequivocally regrets his ill-judged association with Jeffrey Epstein" and "deeply sympathises with those affected who want some form of closure".

They said "it is emphatically denied that the Duke of York had any form of sexual contact or relationship with Virginia Roberts. Any claim to the contrary is false and without foundation".

https://news.sky.com/story/prince-a...idal-in-case-something-happens-to-me-11883685

 

[MenInG]

Prince Andrew kept a low profile as members of the Royal Family attended Christmas Day church services in Sandringham in Norfolk.

While a large crowd watched the Queen and family members arrive for the main 11am service, the prince attended an earlier service.

Prince Andrew was also absent as family members left the church after the service to greet members of the public.

Prince Philip, who was released from hospital on Tuesday, did not attend.

Spoiler

Wednesday's service also saw an appearance by Prince George and Princess Charlotte, who joined the annual Christmas gathering at St Mary Magdalene Church for the first time.

There had been speculation over whether Prince Andrew would join the rest of his family at Sandringham today.

The prince has "stepped back" from his royal duties after controversy over his links with billionaire sex offender Jeffery Epstein.

While most of the family arrived in front of crowds lining the roads, Andrew, accompanied by his brother, arrived earlier at the church and used a different entrance.

Princess Charlotte made her debut at the service and met visitors with her mother, the Duchess of Cambridge
The BBC's royal correspondent Nicholas Witchell said the prince was a "significant absentee" from the main service at 11am.

Our correspondent said: "If he had attended [the main service] a lot of the coverage would have been around him. He has become... something of an embarrassment currently to the Royal Family."

The Queen was not accompanied by her husband, who was discharged from hospital on Tuesday
The 11am service was broadcast live to the hundreds of visitors who had gathered outside St Mary Magdalene Church.

Some had queued from the early hours of Wednesday morning in the hope of seeing the Royal Family.

'Bumpy' year
The Queen's attendance at church precedes her Christmas Day message - in which she will describe 2019 as "quite bumpy".

She will say the path is never "smooth" but "small steps" can heal divisions.

Her message comes after a year of intense political debate over Brexit, as well as a number of personal events affecting the Royal Family, such as the controversy over her son Andrew and her husband's health.

Prince Phillip returned to Sandringham on Christmas Eve after spending four nights in hospital.

He was taken to King Edward VII's Hospital in London on Friday on the advice of his doctor.

The 98-year-old retired from public life in August 2017 and his last public appearance was at Lady Gabriella Windsor's wedding in May.

Prince Andrew's presence at Wednesday's early service follows a Newsnight interview in which he was questioned about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein.

It was after that interview that it was announced Prince Andrew would retire from public life.

The Earl of Wessex and his daughter Lady Louise Windsor also arrived for the Christmas morning church service.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex did not attend this year's church service as they are in Canada taking a break from royal duties with their son Archie.

Meanwhile, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have released a new photograph showing the duke kissing his youngest son, Louis, alongside Prince George and Princess Charlotte.

The picture was posted by Kensington Palace on Twitter with the message: "Merry Christmas to all our followers!"

In her traditional message to the UK and Commonwealth, broadcast on BBC One and Radio 4 at 15:00 GMT on Christmas Day, the Queen will refers to the life of Jesus and the importance of reconciliation.

It is a choice of words which BBC royal correspondent Nicholas Witchell says "will inevitably prompt speculation about what it is that she's referring to".

The head of state - who is publicly neutral on political matters - will also use her message to highlight the 75th anniversary of the World War Two D-Day landings.

She will reflect on how former "sworn enemies" joined together in friendly commemorations to mark the milestone this year.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-50908038

 

[MenInG]

The Duke of York's private secretary, Amanda Thirsk, has reached a legal settlement to end her employment in the royal household after 15 years.

Sky News has learnt that Ms Thirsk agreed the terms of her departure - including a payment worth tens of thousands of pounds - with the palace on Thursday.

Spoiler

An announcement is expected to be made to inform staff about her departure later, according to one royal insider.

Ms Thirsk is also understood to be preparing to sign a separate contract that will see her continue as chief executive of Pitch@Palace Global Limited (PAGL), the privately owned international arm of Prince Andrew's project to back entrepreneurs.

That deal is expected to be signed on Friday.

Her exit from the palace will come less than two months after the duke's disastrous interview with the BBC, which deepened the crisis over his links to the convicted paedophile, Jeffrey Epstein.

It will also come at the end of another turbulent week for the royal family, with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's announcement that they intend to "step back" as senior royals, sparking a fresh crisis at the palace.

November 2019: 'My honour coloured my judgement'
Sky News reported in November that, contrary to widespread media reports, the duke had not sacked Ms Thirsk but that she was expected to step down from her role in the new year.

A former banker, Ms Thirsk has worked at the palace for the duke since 2004, and became his private secretary in 2012.

She played a key role in shaping his work after he was forced to step down as the UK trade envoy in 2011.

His decision to give up the title of special representative for trade and investment followed earlier controversies involving Epstein, who was found dead in his prison cell last year.

While Ms Thirsk has been blamed for the Duke's decision to conduct the November interview, allies of the now-former royal aide praised her efforts to carve out a role for him that also benefited the UK economy.

Nevertheless, the length of Ms Thirsk's future tenure at PAGL is likely to remain an open question given uncertainty over the initiative's future.

Most of the board members of Pitch have resigned in the wake of Prince Andrew's Newsnight interview.

The initiative, which was ensnared by the fallout from his subsequent decision to step back from public duties, says it has helped nearly 1,000 start-ups since being set up in 2014.

Pitch@Palace also claims to have created almost 6,000 jobs since its inception and generated more than £1.1bn of new economic activity.

A string of corporate partners, including Barclays and KPMG, said they would not renew their association with Pitch@Palace, although in some cases the companies had decided to end their involvement before the latest crisis erupted.

A review of Pitch's activities is expected to take place in the early part of this year.

One source said the duke would continue to employ a private secretary, although the identity of that person remains unclear.

A palace spokesman said on Friday that it "would never comment on individuals".

Ms Thirsk could not be reached for comment.

https://news.sky.com/story/duke-of-yorks-top-aide-agrees-palace-legal-settlement-11905091

 

[KingKhanWC]

This was most certainly not a suicide.

Epstein must have had many secrets he could have revealed.

He also had strong links with Israel, being an agent.

 

[MenInG]

The Queen smiled for the cameras as she appeared in public with Prince Andrew for the first time since he retired from royal duties.

She appeared relaxed as she arrived at church near Sandringham shortly after sealing a deal with Prince Harry which means he and his wife can step back from life as senior royals.

Spoiler

Prince Andrew was close to the Queen as they arrived at the Church of St Mary the Virgin in Hillington, near to her Sandringham estate.

It was a stark contrast to his church attendance on Christmas Day, where he was only spotted at the more private 9am service at St Mary Magdalene, the church on the Queen's estate in Norfolk.

He avoided the cameras and the crowds at the 11am service, where Prince George and Princess Charlotte stole the show instead.

It is the first time the Queen has been seen since the announcement on Saturday evening that Prince Harry and his wife Meghan will not use their HRH royal titles as they seek to step back from public life as senior members of her family.

The Queen had seemed blindsided by the announcement 10 days ago that they wanted carve out new roles, but in signing off a deal, she acknowledged there had been talks months ago.

But she has given them a model quite different to their proposed half in, half out plan which would have seen them carry on some royal duties.

And she singled out her granddaughter-in-law Meghan for praise in her statement, saying she was "particularly proud" of how quickly the former actress has "become one of the family".

Asked about the agreement reached by the royals, Boris Johnson told reporters: "I am sure the whole country will be joining me in wishing them the best. The Royal Family has been around for a long time and will find a way forward."

Prince Andrew announced he would step back from royal duties "for the foreseeable future" in early December after scrutiny over his friendship with the financier Jeffrey Epstein.

He appeared unrepentant about his bond with the businessman, who was a convicted sex offender, during an interview with BBC Newsnight.

But he later said: "I continue to unequivocally regret my ill-judged association with Jeffrey Epstein.

"His suicide has left many unanswered questions, particularly for his victims, and I deeply sympathise with everyone who has been affected and wants some form of closure."

Epstein was awaiting trial accused of trafficking girls as young as 14 for sex and had previously served time in prison in 2008 for trafficking underage girls.

Prince Andrew also said he had "no recollection" of meeting Virginia Roberts-Giuffre, who claims she was trafficked by Epstein and forced to have sex with a number of his associates, including Andrew, when she was 17.

Sky's royal correspondent Rhiannon Mills said: "There is a sense that we have a way forward for what has been a difficult 10 days for the Queen.

"I think it was always her conviction that she wanted this sorted quickly - in days not weeks.

"This morning we have seen her for the first time since that statement, at church, accompanied by what some may say is an unexpected member of the royal family.

"She was with her son Andrew. Before Christmas all of the talk was about him, that interview he gave about Jeffrey Epstein, his friendship with the convicted sex offender, in which he refused to apologise for that relationship

"The fallout from that meant he had to step back from public duty.

"Lots of people will read into the fact that this is the first time we have seen the Queen alongside him.

"But like those statements about Harry and Meghan, yes we talk about the institution, but her family is still hugely important."

https://news.sky.com/story/queen-at...e-first-time-since-epstein-interview-11912486

 

[MenInG]

Lawyers representing alleged victims of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein have urged Prince Andrew to co-operate with an inquiry into the financier.

Spoiler

Lisa Bloom said Epstein's accusers were "outraged" by the Duke of York not assisting the US authorities.

It comes after the prosecutor in charge of the US investigation said the duke had provided "zero co-operation".

The duke has said he did not witness or suspect any suspicious behaviour during visits to Epstein's homes.

He has come under fire for his friendship with the US financier - a convicted sex offender who took his own life in a jail cell in August, aged 66, while awaiting trial on sex trafficking and conspiracy charges.

The duke told the BBC last November that he was willing to help the authorities into the investigation of Epstein.

However, US attorney Geoffrey Berman said prosecutors and the FBI have received no reply after contacting the duke's lawyers.

'Zero co-operation' from Prince Andrew over Epstein
Explained: Who was Jeffrey Epstein?
Timeline: Prince Andrew's links to Epstein
What have the US lawyers said?

Media captionGeoffrey Berman speaking in New York
Ms Bloom, a US lawyer who represents five women who say they were abused by Epstein, said the duke should "do the right thing".

She told BBC Newsnight: "I'm glad that Geoffrey Berman has gone public to try to embarrass Prince Andrew, who made one statement and then behind closed doors is doing something very different.

"The five Epstein victims who I represent are outraged and disappointed at Prince Andrew's behaviour here."

Buckingham Palace said the prince's legal team was dealing with the issue and it would not be commenting further.

Ms Bloom added: "If Prince Andrew truly has done nothing wrong then it's incumbent upon him to go and speak to the FBI at a time that's convenient for him and say what he knows.

"Perhaps he can help bring other people to justice."

Another US lawyer representing some of Epstein's accusers, Gloria Allred, said she had sent a letter to Prince Andrew's home urging him to co-operate but hadn't received a response.

She told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "No response is the same as zero co-operation. This is ridiculous. It's just not acceptable."

She added: "Prince Andrew has a moral obligation to volunteer to speak to law enforcement - that's what he said he would do."

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-51277647

 

[imrankhannsu]

lolz. The guy surely has something to hide. I feel sorry for the queen that some of her children are such let downs

 

[MenInG]

The Duke of York has asked to defer a military promotion after stepping down from public duties in the wake of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.

Prince Andrew was due to be promoted to Admiral on his 60th birthday later this month, in line with a longstanding policy that sees senior royals treated as serving military members.

But a Buckingham Palace spokeswoman said the duke had requested to forgo the planned promotion until he is able to fully resume royal duties.

"By convention, the Duke of York would be in line for military promotion on his 60th birthday," the spokeswoman said.

"Following the decision by His Royal Highness to step back from public duties for the foreseeable future, the Duke of York has asked the Ministry of Defence if this promotion might be deferred until such time that His Royal Highness returns to public duty."

Prince Andrew stepped back from public duties in December following controversy over his links to Epstein, a convicted paedophile who killed himself while in prison.

The royal was heavily criticised following a TV interview which probed his relationship with the billionaire and claims Epstein pressured Virginia Roberts Giuffre, then 17, to have sex with Prince Andrew.

Beaming Queen appears with Prince Andrew after signing off Harry's deal
The Duke of York denies the claims.

His decision comes after the government announced that councils will no longer be forced to fly flags to mark the duke's birthday - but the occasion will still be marked by the ringing of bells at Westminster Abbey.

Prince Andrew gave an interview to BBC's Newsnight about his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein

'I have no recollection of ever meeting this lady'
The policy of flying Union flags on royal birthdays was being reviewed after local authorities were initially ordered to do so for Andrew, as is customary.

Critics described the celebration as "crass and offensive", which led to Downing Street saying it was looking into the matter.

A government spokesman said: "The Department of Culture, Media and Sport will be advising councils that there is no requirement to fly flags on 19 February following the decision by the Duke of York to step back from public duties for the foreseeable future."

The decision will also apply to other government buildings.

Certain royal birthdays, including the duke's, are traditionally celebrated by the ringing of bells at Westminster Abbey and this year will apparently be no different.

A spokeswoman for the landmark London church said: "Westminster Abbey is a Royal Peculiar and the bells are rung for the birthdays of HM The Queen and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh; their children; and TRH The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and their children.

"There are no plans to change these arrangements."

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, an American lawyer representing some of Epstein's victims called for the UK to send Prince Andrew to the US to help with the investigation into the convicted sex offender.

In return, Lisa Bloom urged Washington to extradite Anne Sacoolas, the wife of a US diplomat who is charged with causing the death of teenager Harry Dunn.

The 19-year-old was killed in a crash outside an RAF base in Northamptonshire last August.

https://news.sky.com/story/bells-to...to-mark-prince-andrews-60th-birthday-11927912

 

[MenInG]

The royal family has reportedly decided Prince Andrew will retire from public life indefinitely over his controversial friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The Sunday Times is reporting that the Queen's second child will not represent his mother, or the royal family, again at public or private engagements.

The Duke of York stepped back from royal duties in November after his interview with BBC journalist Emily Maitlis was deemed a PR disaster. Now, The Sunday Times reports, Prince Andrew has been forced to retire at 60 as the palace has 'no plans' to review their initial decision that he should withdraw from public life.

At the time he released a statement saying he was stepping back 'for the foreseeable future' as 'circumstances relating to my former association with Jeffrey Epstein has become a major disruption to my family’s work'.

A few months later in February it was confirmed that flags would not be flown on his 60th birthday, as is tradition for senior members of the royal family, and the Duke had also chosen to defer a Naval birthday promotion until he returned to public duty.

But The Sunday Times' royal reporter Roya Nikkhah says Andrew's hopes of a temporary break from his duties have now been dashed.

The Palace has responded by saying nothing has changed since Prince Andrew's statement in November.

In his interview with Maitlis, the prince said he 'kicks' himself for continuing to stay in contact with Epstein after he was first convicted of sex offences.

'That's the bit that… as it were, I kick myself for on a daily basis because it was not something that was becoming of a member of the royal family and we try and uphold the highest standards and practices and I let the side down, simple as that.'

Andrew also insisted he had 'no recollection' of meeting Virginia Giuffre, the woman who claims they had sex on three separate occasions when she was 17.

Epstein was arrested on criminal charges for sex trafficking minors in Florida and New York on 6th July 2019. He was charged two days later with sex trafficking and conspiracy to traffic minors for sex. He was found hanged in jail while awaiting trial in August.

 

[Local.Dada]

Just saw the Jeffrey Epstein documentary on Netflix this weekend.

I don’t want to pass judgements but it is clear as daylight how much Prince Andrew did or did not partake in some of the despicable activities that happened around Epstein

 

[Saj]

Just saw the Jeffrey Epstein documentary on Netflix this weekend.

I don’t want to pass judgements but it is clear as daylight how much Prince Andrew did or did not partake in some of the despicable activities that happened around Epstein

Very interesting documentary.

Shocking really.

 

[Rana]

Prince Andrew is a disgrace!

 

[Firebat]

Prince Andrew asked by US to testify in Jeffrey Epstein sex case

The Duke of York has been requested by the US authorities to testify about his relationship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, the BBC has been told.

It was first reported in the Sun that the US Department of Justice had made a formal request to speak to Prince Andrew as part of its Epstein inquiry.

He has been heavily criticised for his friendship with the US financier.

The duke has previously said he did not witness any suspicious behaviour during visits to Epstein's homes.

Prince Andrew stepped away from royal duties last year following a widely-criticised BBC interview about his relationship with Epstein, who took his own life in a US jail cell in August, aged 66, while awaiting trial on sex trafficking and conspiracy charges.

BBC royal correspondent Jonny Dymond said the BBC had confirmed the reports that the US authorities had submitted a mutual legal assistance (MLA) request to the Home Office - although this has not been confirmed by the US Department of Justice or the UK Home Office.

Under the terms of a MLA request if Prince Andrew does not voluntarily respond, he can be called to a UK court to answer questions.

Our correspondent said the duke's legal team was bitterly unhappy about the leaking of the request, with a source describing it as "an extraordinary breach of confidentiality".

A full statement is expected later with details about Prince Andrew's cooperation with US legal authorities.

MLA requests by other states are used to obtain assistance in an investigation or prosecution of criminal offences, generally when cooperation cannot be obtained by law enforcement agencies.

According to Home Office guidance, it is "usual policy" that the existence of a request is neither confirmed or denied.

In his interview with the BBC's Newsnight programme in November 2019, the duke said he did not regret his friendship with Epstein, despite the financier having been convicted of soliciting an underage girl for prostitution in 2008.

Shortly after it was broadcast, he said he was "willing to help any appropriate law enforcement agency".

He was criticised in January by the US prosecutor in charge of the investigation into Epstein - Geoffrey Berman - who said the prince had provided "zero co-operation" to the investigators.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-52962980

 

[MenInG]

Lawyers of Prince Andrew say the Duke of York has offered to assist the U.S. department of justice "on at least three occasions this year" in its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein

 

[Rana]

Where is Ghislaine? She seems to be hiding like Daud Ibrahim has been hiding somewhere

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

This was most certainly not a suicide.

Epstein must have had many secrets he could have revealed.

He also had strong links with Israel, being an agent.

It's the royal family, people who could be an embarrassment tend to end up dead. Thinking back to the Dodi/Diana saga, although with Epstein seems he could have been sitting on a whole load of incriminating evidence involving influential people all over the world.

 

[MenInG]

Federal prosecutors in the US have issued a formal request to interview Prince Andrew as part of their investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein, prompting an angry response from the duke's legal team.

Officials in New York made the request through the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty, which makes it similar to a subpoena for the prince to provide testimony.

Those behind the move say the decision to use the treaty - which is rarely deployed - is designed to ensure the inquiry into the disgraced billionaire's history of sexual abuse is as thorough as possible.

But a statement issued by Prince Andrew's legal team called the development "disappointing" and claimed the Duke of York had previously offered his assistance to the US Department of Justice (DOJ) on three occasions.

"Unfortunately, the DOJ has reacted to the first two offers by breaching their own confidentiality rules and claiming that
the duke has offered zero cooperation.

"In doing so, they are perhaps seeking publicity rather than accepting the assistance.

"We were given an unequivocal assurance that our discussions and the interview process would remain confidential."

It comes after US Attorney Geoffrey Berman said in March that he would consider legal action because, he claimed, the duke's representatives had ruled out an interview.

"Contrary to Prince Andrew's very public offer to cooperate with our investigation into Epstein's co-conspirators, an offer that was conveyed via press release, Prince Andrew has now completely shut the door on voluntary cooperation," he said, adding that his office was "considering its options".

Federal investigators have been trying for months to speak with Andrew, a longtime friend of Epstein's who has been accused by one woman of sexual abuse.

Both Andrew and Epstein's former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, have previously denied any knowledge that Epstein was sexually abusing teenage girls.

Officials ruled that Epstein, 66, killed himself in August while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.

Prosecutors accused the politically-connected financier of preying on dozens of underage girls in New York and Florida in the early 2000s.

Prince Andrew made a rare public appearance in April, alongside his former wife, Sarah Ferguson Pic: Instagram/Antonia Marshall
A lawyer representing five of Epstein's alleged victims previously told Sky News that Prince Andrew's failure to co-operate to date had been a "slap in the face" for those women who were abused.

He has largely stepped back from public life, staying home instead of attending the morning Christmas Day service at Sandringham, but was at church with the Queen in mid-January. He also made a rare public appearance in April.

It emerged in May that he was facing legal action over an unpaid bill of £5m.

https://news.sky.com/story/prince-a...ators-over-epstein-interview-request-12002963

 

[KingKhanWC]

It's the royal family, people who could be an embarrassment tend to end up dead. Thinking back to the Dodi/Diana saga, although with Epstein seems he could have been sitting on a whole load of incriminating evidence involving influential people all over the world.

Andrew being one of them, others could have included Trump himself who was also close to him.

A suspected peodo in the Royal Family, has ruined their reputation. Maybe we will see Tommy Robinson take up this campaign.

 

[Robert]

It's the royal family, people who could be an embarrassment tend to end up dead. Thinking back to the Dodi/Diana saga, although with Epstein seems he could have been sitting on a whole load of incriminating evidence involving influential people all over the world.

Conspiracy theory. Usually car crashes are just car crashes, especially when the driver has alcohol and cocaine in his system.

 

[KingKhanWC]

Conspiracy theory. Usually car crashes are just car crashes, especially when the driver has alcohol and cocaine in his system.

Diana herself said she feared for her life and felt they wanted to kill her.

Not sure why you think the Royals are Angels, they aren't even English lol.

 

[Robert]

Diana herself said she feared for her life and felt they wanted to kill her.

Not sure why you think the Royals are Angels, they aren't even English lol.

Not sure why you would think I think that. Most people aren’t “angels”.

Why do you think people born in the U.K. aren’t English? The last monarch born outside Britain was George I in the eighteenth century.

I apply Occam’s Razor. The simple explanation is usually right. A driver had cocaine and alcohol in his system, drive too fast to escape paparazzi and crashed. Aren’t you against drinking, especially drinking and driving?

 

[MenInG]

The Duke of York has "sought to falsely portray himself" as eager to co-operate with an inquiry into sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, the US prosecutor in charge of the investigation has said.

US attorney Geoffrey Berman said Prince Andrew "has repeatedly declined our request" to schedule an interview.

The prince's lawyers previously rejected claims he had not co-operated, saying he offered to help three times.

The duke will not be extradited, the US government's chief lawyer has said.

US Attorney General William Barr told Fox News: "I don't think it's a question of handing him over. I think it's just a question of having him provide some evidence."

Prince Andrew stepped away from royal duties last year after an interview he gave to the BBC about his relationship with Epstein.

Epstein took his own life in a US jail cell in August, aged 66, while awaiting trial on sex trafficking and conspiracy charges.

The duke has been heavily scrutinised for his friendship with Epstein, but he has said he did not witness any suspicious behaviour during visits to the US financier's homes.

Mr Berman, the US attorney for the Southern District of New York, has criticised the duke in the past. In January he accused him of providing "zero co-operation" and in March he said Andrew had "completely shut the door" on helping investigators.

On Monday, Prince Andrew's lawyers responded for the first time and hit back at the claims as "inaccurate".

Mr Berman then issued a statement, deepening the row. He said: "Today, Prince Andrew yet again sought to falsely portray himself to the public as eager and willing to co-operate with an ongoing federal criminal investigation into sex trafficking and related offences committed by Jeffrey Epstein and his associates."

He said the duke "has not given an interview to federal authorities, has repeatedly declined our request to schedule such an interview, and nearly four months ago informed us unequivocally - through the very same counsel who issued today's release - that he would not come in for such an interview".

"If Prince Andrew is, in fact, serious about co-operating with the ongoing federal investigation, our doors remain open, and we await word of when we should expect him."

The duke's lawyers declined to comment further. But a source said: "This is the third time Berman has breached his own confidentiality rules, further diminishing our trust in the DoJ's willingness to play a straight bat. It's frankly bewildering."

Earlier, the legal team said: "As the public record indicates the DoJ has been actively investigating Mr Epstein and other targets for more than 16 years, yet the first time they requested the duke's help was on 2 January 2020.

"Importantly, the DoJ advised us that the duke is not and has never been a 'target' of their criminal investigations into Epstein and that they sought his confidential, voluntary co-operation."

Lawyer Gloria Allred, who represents some of Epstein's victims, told BBC Breakfast she thinks Prince Andrew has "very little credibility".

"I have a lot of suspicion about what he is saying through his representatives," she said, adding that she did not feel the same way towards Mr Berman.

She added that the victims are in pain and "deserve the truth".

"Questioning the motives of the prosecutors, I just think that's meaningless in this situation," she said.

"Let him step up to the bar of justice, take the oath and just tell the truth."

'Misleading account'
The duke's lawyers said they had asked US prosecutors to confirm the co-operation would remain confidential, adding: "We were given an unequivocal assurance that our discussions and the interview process would remain confidential."

They added: "The Duke of York has on at least three occasions this year offered his assistance as a witness to the DoJ.

"Unfortunately, the DoJ has reacted to the first two offers by breaching their own confidentiality rules and claiming that the duke has offered zero co-operation. In doing so, they are perhaps seeking publicity rather than accepting the assistance proffered."

The legal team added: "It is a matter of regret that the DoJ has seen fit to breach its own rules of confidentiality, not least as they are designed to encourage witness co-operation.

"Far from our client acting above the law, as has been implied by press briefings in the US, he is being treated by a lower standard than might reasonably be expected for any other citizen. Further, those same breaches of confidentiality by the DoJ have given the global media - and, therefore, the worldwide audience - an entirely misleading account of our discussions with them."

The DoJ has made a formal request to speak to the prince as part of its Epstein inquiry, by submitting a mutual legal assistance (MLA) request to the UK Home Office.

Under the terms of a MLA request if Prince Andrew does not voluntarily respond, he can be called to a UK court to answer questions.

The duke's lawyers described the request as "disappointing" because the Duke of York was "not a target of the DoJ investigation and has recently repeated his willingness to provide a witness statement".

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-52973219

 

[MenInG]

The woman who has accused the Duke of York of having underage sex with her has called him a "toad" after he reportedly said he regretted a TV interview about the allegations.

Virginia Roberts Giuffre also revealed she is in hospital in Australia with bacterial meningitis, a potentially serious condition that can lead to death or permanent disabilities, which she has blamed on stress.

The American-born 36-year-old, who now lives in Cairns with her husband and three children, tweeted after The Sunday Times reported Prince Andrew's latest reaction to his BBC interview about allegations relating to his friendship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Virginia Roberts Giuffre says Prince Andrew had sex with her three times, including one when she was underage. He denies the claims
An unnamed source said to be close to the duke told The Times Andrew regretted the interview last November, particularly because he was "unable to appropriately or sufficiently convey his sympathy for the victims of Epstein".

Mrs Roberts Giuffre, who claims the duke had sex with her three times, including when she was 17 and a minor under US law, tweeted: "Oh the gull of this toad - he regrets that BBC interview but not his 'friendship' with Epstein because it gave him 'great contacts' and much more."

She added: "This man is not a prince but a facet of insidiousness who has proven to get away with it all."

Mrs Roberts Giuffre also claims she was trafficked in an underage sex ring by Epstein.

The duke categorically denies he had any form of sexual contact or relationship with her.

Andrew said in the interview he was willing to work with the American authorities over the investigation into the disgraced financier, but said he had not been contacted.

Since then, they have been engaged in a ***-for-tat, with the duke saying he has offered to answer questions relating to his association with Epstein and the Americans saying he has not.

The prince has been accused of attempting to "falsely portray himself to the public as eager and willing to co-operate" by US attorney Geoffrey Berman, who is leading the investigation.

On 8 June the duke's legal team said their client had made three offers to give a witness statement.

Days before that, Mrs Roberts Giuffre was admitted to hospital in Cairns after contracting bacterial meningitis, which she said may be linked to a deficient immune system due to stress.

She tweeted: "Back in the hospital - again. This time bacterial meningitis.

"Went to the rainforest for the weekend with the fam and came back with something from the jungle.

"Day 3 - just had to get a spinal tap - talk about pain! Pls send me some love vibes from all my friends on Twitter."

She later added she felt her immune system was deficient "with so much going on and add some stress into that. Just scary - meningitis!!"

https://news.sky.com/story/virginia...-him-a-toad-over-tv-interview-regret-12007021

 

[Firebat]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">FBI arrests British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, an associate of late disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein <a href="https://t.co/BK7kxItKfg">https://t.co/BK7kxItKfg</a></p>— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) <a href="https://twitter.com/BBCBreaking/status/1278684176867262466?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 2, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[Firebat]

Jeffrey Epstein ex-girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell arrested by FBI

The FBI has arrested British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, an ex-girlfriend of the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.

She was reportedly arrested in New Hampshire on charges related to Epstein and is due in federal court later.

She has denied any involvement in or knowledge of Epstein's alleged sexual misconduct.

Epstein died in prison on 10 August as he awaited, without the chance of bail, his trial on sex trafficking charges.

He was arrested last year in New York following allegations that he was running a network of underage girls - some as young as 14 - for sex. His death was determined to be suicide.

Some of Epstein's alleged victims say Ms Maxwell brought them into his circle to be sexually abused by him and his friends.

One of Epstein's alleged victims, Virginia Giuffre, has accused Ms Maxwell of recruiting her as a masseuse to the financier at the age of 15.

Details of that allegation against Ms Maxwell emerged in documents unsealed by a US judge last August in a 2015 defamation case.

Other women have also made allegations that Ms Maxwell was involved. One, Sarah Ransome, told the BBC's Panorama that Ms Maxwell "controlled the girls. She was like the Madam".

Ms Maxwell has denied any wrongdoing.

Earlier this year Ms Maxwell sued Epstein's estate seeking reimbursement for legal fees and security costs. She "receives regular threats to her life and safety", court documents in that case said.

Spoiler

Who is Ghislaine Maxwell?
Ms Maxwell is the daughter of late British media mogul Robert Maxwell.

A well-connected socialite, she is said to have introduced Epstein to many of her wealthy and powerful friends, including Bill Clinton and the Duke of York (who was accused in the court papers of touching a woman at Jeffrey Epstein's US home, although the court subsequently struck out allegations against the duke).

Buckingham Palace has said that "any suggestion of impropriety with underage minors" by the duke was "categorically untrue".

Ms Maxwell has mostly been out of public view since 2016.

In a BBC interview last year, the Duke of York said he had met up with Ms Maxwell last year, before Epstein was arrested and charged.

However they did not discuss Epstein, he said.

Last month a US prosecutor said Prince Andrew had "sought to falsely portray himself" as eager to cooperate with the inquiry into Epstein.

US attorney Geoffrey Berman said Prince Andrew had "repeatedly declined our request" to schedule an interview.

The duke's lawyers previously rejected claims he had not co-operated, saying he offered to help three times.

Prince Andrew stepped away from royal duties last year after an interview he gave to the BBC about his relationship with Epstein.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53268218

 

[Firebat]

Jeffrey Epstein ex-girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell arrested by FBI

The FBI has arrested British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, an ex-girlfriend of the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.

She was reportedly arrested in New Hampshire on charges related to Epstein and is due in federal court later.

She has denied any involvement in or knowledge of Epstein's alleged sexual misconduct.

Epstein died in prison on 10 August as he awaited, without the chance of bail, his trial on sex trafficking charges.

He was arrested last year in New York following allegations that he was running a network of underage girls - some as young as 14 - for sex. His death was determined to be suicide.

Some of Epstein's alleged victims say Ms Maxwell brought them into his circle to be sexually abused by him and his friends.

One of Epstein's alleged victims, Virginia Giuffre, has accused Ms Maxwell of recruiting her as a masseuse to the financier at the age of 15.

Details of that allegation against Ms Maxwell emerged in documents unsealed by a US judge last August in a 2015 defamation case.

Other women have also made allegations that Ms Maxwell was involved. One, Sarah Ransome, told the BBC's Panorama that Ms Maxwell "controlled the girls. She was like the Madam".

Ms Maxwell has denied any wrongdoing.

Earlier this year Ms Maxwell sued Epstein's estate seeking reimbursement for legal fees and security costs. She "receives regular threats to her life and safety", court documents in that case said.

Spoiler

Who is Ghislaine Maxwell?

Ms Maxwell is the daughter of late British media mogul Robert Maxwell.

A well-connected socialite, she is said to have introduced Epstein to many of her wealthy and powerful friends, including Bill Clinton and the Duke of York (who was accused in the court papers of touching a woman at Jeffrey Epstein's US home, although the court subsequently struck out allegations against the duke).

Buckingham Palace has said that "any suggestion of impropriety with underage minors" by the duke was "categorically untrue".

Ms Maxwell has mostly been out of public view since 2016.

In a BBC interview last year, the Duke of York said he had met up with Ms Maxwell last year, before Epstein was arrested and charged.

However they did not discuss Epstein, he said.

Last month a US prosecutor said Prince Andrew had "sought to falsely portray himself" as eager to cooperate with the inquiry into Epstein.

US attorney Geoffrey Berman said Prince Andrew had "repeatedly declined our request" to schedule an interview.

The duke's lawyers previously rejected claims he had not co-operated, saying he offered to help three times.

Prince Andrew stepped away from royal duties last year after an interview he gave to the BBC about his relationship with Epstein.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53268218

 

[Firebat]

Ghislaine Maxwell arrested, accused of helping Jeffrey Epstein lure girls into sex abuse

(Reuters) - Ghislaine Maxwell, the former girlfriend and longtime associate of the late accused sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, was arrested in New Hampshire on Thursday on U.S. charges of helping to lure underage girls who were then sexually abused by Epstein.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested Maxwell about 8:30 a.m. ET (1230 GMT) in Bradford, New Hampshire, about 25 miles west of Concord, an agency spokeswoman said on Thursday. She was due to appear in federal court on Thursday, sources told Reuters.

Epstein was awaiting trial on charges of trafficking minors when he was found hanged in an apparent suicide while in a New York City jail in August.

The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York said in a news release it would announce charges later in the day against Maxwell “for her role in the sexual exploitation and abuse of multiple minor girls by Jeffrey Epstein.”

Federal prosecutors said in court papers she had “enticed and caused minor victims to travel to Epstein’s residence in different states” and that Maxwell would assist in their “grooming for and subjection to sexual abuse.”

Prosecutors charged that Maxwell was well aware of Epstein’s preference for minor girls, and that he intended to sexually abuse them.

Maxwell has kept a low profile since the death of Epstein, a financier who was accused of raping and trafficking underage girls over nearly two decades. Some of Epstein’s alleged victims have said Maxwell lured them into his circle, where they were sexually abused by him and powerful friends.

Maxwell was an ex-girlfriend of Epstein who became a longtime member of his inner circle. In a 2003 Vanity Fair article, Epstein was quoted as saying Maxwell was his “best friend.”

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...stein-lure-girls-into-sex-abuse-idUSKBN24321V

 

[MenInG]

Ms Strauss told reporters she would "welcome Prince Andrew coming in to talk with us".

Virginia Roberts Giuffre, one of Epstein's alleged victims. has claimed that Maxwell arranged for her to have sex with the prince at the socialite's London townhouse.

 

[MenInG]

British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell has been charged with helping to lure underage girls who were then sexually abused by Jeffrey Epstein, US investigators say.

Maxwell, who has kept a low profile since Epstein's death in August last year, was arrested by the FBI in Bradford, New Hampshire on Thursday on charges relating to her former boyfriend and long-time associate.

Maxwell, 58, played a "critical role" in helping Epstein "identify, befriend and groom minor victims for abuse", according to Audrey Strauss, acting US attorney for the southern district of New York.

It is also alleged Maxwell took part in some of the abuse.

Ms Strauss said: "Maxwell was among Epstein's closest associates and helped him exploit girls who were as young as 14 years old.

"In some cases, Maxwell participated in the abuse herself."

A court filing claimed Maxwell, who has wealth, extensive international ties, three passports, and citizenship in two other countries, posed an "extreme flight risk".

It said she had been hiding out in locations in New England since Epstein's arrest last July and she faces up to 35 years in prison if convicted.

Ms Strauss claimed Epstein and Maxwell "had a method", where Maxwell would allegedly befriend young girls and pretend to be taking an interest in them, before trying to normalise sexual abuse with minor victims through grooming.

Maxwell had "enticed and caused minor victims to travel to Epstein's residence in different states" and that Maxwell would assist in their "grooming for and subjection to sexual abuse", federal prosecutors said in court papers.

Prosecutors claimed Maxwell was well aware of Epstein's preference for underage girls, and that he intended to sexually abuse them.

Disgraced financier Epstein, 66, was accused of raping and trafficking underage girls over the course of nearly two decades.

Last year, Epstein was arrested in New York on charges of trafficking minors, but was found hanged in an apparent suicide in prison while awaiting trial.

Some of Epstein's alleged victims have claimed that Maxwell lured them into his circle, where they were sexually abused by him and powerful friends.

Maxwell - the daughter of newspaper tycoon Robert Maxwell - was a former partner of Epstein, one of his closest associates and was also paid to manage his various properties.

She has denied any wrongdoing and said some of the claims against her were "absolute rubbish".

Speaking at a news conference on Thursday, Ms Strauss said Maxwell had "repeatedly lied" about her involvement because the truth was "almost unspeakable".

Ms Strauss claimed the socialite had "enticed young girls, got them to trust her, then delivered them into the trap that she and Epstein had set for them".

An image appearing to show Prince Andrew and a 17-year-old Virginia Roberts at Ghislaine Maxwell's house in London in March 2001.

Alleged victim of Epstein, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, has claimed that Maxwell arranged for her to have sex with Prince Andrew at the socialite's London townhouse.

The Duke of York categorically denies he had any form of sexual contact or relationship with Ms Roberts.

US investigators said they would "welcome" having Prince Andrew in to talk with them, adding their "doors remain open".

A now public court filing against Maxwell says she "assisted, facilitated and contributed to Jeffrey Epstein's abuse of minor girls by, among other things, helping Epstein to recruit, groom, and ultimately abuse" girls under the age of 18.

The indictment included counts of conspiracy to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, enticement of a minor to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, conspiracy to transport minors with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, and two counts of perjury.

According to the indictment, Maxwell attempted to befriend some of the alleged victims before their abuse, including by taking them to the cinema or shopping.

After gaining their trust, she would "try to normalise sexual abuse for a minor victim by... discussing sexual topics, undressing in front of the victim, being present when a minor victim was undressed, and/or being present for sex acts involving the minor victim and Epstein", the indictment says.

In some instances, she would massage Epstein in front of girls and encourage them to take part in massages while they were fully or partially nude.

The alleged victims were abused in multiple locations, including Epstein's homes in New York, Florida and Sante Fe, and Maxwell's home in London, the indictment claims.

The documents allege Maxwell perjured herself by saying "I don't know what you're talking about" when asked if Epstein schemed to recruit underage girls for sexual massages.

She also said she was unaware Epstein was having sexual activities with anyone, other than her and two other people, while she was with him.

FBI New York assistant director William Sweeney said investigators had been "discreetly keeping tabs" on Maxwell's whereabouts before her arrest.

"More recently we learned she had slithered away to a gorgeous property in New Hampshire, continuing to live a life of privilege while her victims live with the trauma inflicted upon them years ago," he said.

He added: "She befriended the innocent, attempted to normalise sexual abuse, and worked to put victims at ease, aware the entire time of the abuse that would follow."

https://news.sky.com/story/ghislain...ffrey-epstein-arrested-by-fbi-report-12019680

 

[Firebat]

No official U.S. approach to quiz Prince Andrew over Epstein, UK PM says

LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. authorities have not made an official approach to the British government for permission to speak to Prince Andrew about his contacts with the late disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Friday.

U.S. prosecutors want to question the British prince over his contacts with Epstein, who was awaiting trial on charges of trafficking minors when he died last August in a New York City federal prison.

However, they have said Andrew, Queen Elizabeth’s second son, had repeatedly evaded their requests for an interview and reiterated their desire to speak to him on Thursday after they arrested British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, the former girlfriend and longtime associate of Epstein.

Lawyers for Andrew, who met Epstein through his friendship with Maxwell, say he has offered his help three times this year.

Asked what the response would be if U.S. officials sought formal access to the prince, whose official title is the Duke of York, Johnson said: “No such approach has been made. It’s a matter for the royal family.”

He added: “Everybody’s sympathies are very much with the victims of Jeffrey Epstein but you wouldn’t expect me to comment on matters affecting the royal family.”

“The law must carried out and the law must be observed,” he told LBC radio.

In June, then-U.S. Attorney for Manhattan Geoffrey Berman said Andrew had “sought to falsely portray himself to the public as eager and willing to cooperate” with their inquiry.

At the same time, a U.S. law enforcement official confirmed to Reuters that U.S. authorities investigating Epstein had sent the British government a formal request, known as a mutual legal assistance treaty (MLAT) submission, asking for access to the prince.

After Maxwell was arrested and charged on Thursday with luring underage girls for Epstein to sexually abuse, acting Manhattan U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said: “We would welcome Prince Andrew coming in to talk with us.”

Andrew’s legal team have accused the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) of seeking publicity rather than his help, rejecting accusations he had offered “zero cooperation.”

“The Duke’s team remains bewildered given that we have twice communicated with the DOJ in the last month, and to-date, we have had no response,” a source close to Andrew’s team said in response to Strauss’s remarks.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...-andrew-over-epstein-uk-pm-says-idUSKBN2440XO

 

[Firebat]

BREAKING: Prince Andrew's lawyers deny claim he is 'deliberately evading' authorities investigating Epstein

The lawyer for dozens of Jeffrey Epstein's alleged victims has claimed Prince Andrew is "deliberately evading authorities" who have invited him to provide a statement about abuse by the financier.

Brad Edwards represents 55 women who claim they were abused by the convicted paedophile who killed himself in jail last year, and he believes the royal has information that will help them.

In an interview with Sky News' Cordelia Lynch, Mr Edwards said he had personally invited Prince Andrew "at least three times" to share what he knows, but that he "flat out refuses".

On Thursday, British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell appeared in court on charges of luring underage girls so they could be sexually abused by Epstein.

Maxwell is accused of playing a "critical role" in helping her ex-boyfriend identify and groom his victims.

The Duke of York has been locked in a long-running battle with law enforcement in the US over his availability to answer questions about his former friend.

Andrew has even been accused of attempting to "falsely portray himself to the public as eager and willing to co-operate", and was said to have "completely shut the door on voluntary co-operation" by Geoffrey Berman, a US prosecutor leading the investigation into Epstein until last month.

Spoiler

A source close to the duke's legal working group told Sky News: "The Duke of York has offered his assistance to the Department of Justice investigation on a number of occasions this year.

"In addition, the working group have proactively contacted the DoJ twice in the last month and have received no response. That is why we remain utterly bewildered by the DoJ's approach. However, a request from a commercial law firm is not and never will be the same as an official judicial process."

And in an interview with LBC on Friday morning, Boris Johnson said no official approach has been made by the US authorities to speak to Prince Andrew about his links to Epstein.

Mr Edwards told Sky News his clients are angry at the claims that the duke has been co-operative with prosecutors and that he is "bewildered" by reports he hasn't been.

"His bewilderment is subsidiary to my bewilderment - because he's been personally invited to provide all the information he knows for more than a decade.

"I know personally, for over a decade we have been asking him to come and provide all of the information that he has. I think I've personally invited at least three times to tell us what he knows and he just flat out refuses."

The lawyer added: "There's clients who are familiar with the fact that he was around and, you know, they're familiar with the evidence. They know that he was on the flight logs. They know that he was in Ghislaine's apartment with Virginia Roberts.

"They know that there are hard questions that he should be answering, especially if there's any bit of a defence for his own actions then. These are things that he should be, you know, kind of owning up to. The fact that he is not is very frustrating to the victims.

"There's no doubt that he's deliberately evading authorities. I mean, how much more clear - when have you ever heard a US attorney's office at a press conference say: we're inviting you to come over. And he's still - he's not on a plane right now coming over. You know, there's no doubt that they want to talk to him."

Andrew's public life was left in tatters after his disastrous Newsnight interview about his friendship with Epstein, which saw him accused of showing little empathy for the financier's victims.

In the programme's aftermath, the duke stepped back from royal duties but became the focus of US authorities who wanted to question him about the financier, who killed himself in his jail cell while awaiting trial for sex trafficking.

Mr Edwards said his clients were "extremely relieved" that Maxwell has been charged and that they are all willing to testify in court.

https://news.sky.com/story/duke-den...ng-authorities-investigating-epstein-12020208

 

[The Viper]

Alleged Jeffrey Epstein accomplice being held at 'well-run' jail - local lawyers

Ghislaine Maxwell, the alleged accomplice of Jeffrey Epstein, is being detained at a New Hampshire jail where she is likely separated from other inmates and under constant surveillance, local lawyers said.

A source familiar with Maxwell’s case said she is being held at the Merrimack County Jail, a medium-security facility 20 miles from the luxurious home where she was arrested Thursday.

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan have accused Maxwell, 58, of luring underage girls so that Epstein could sexually abuse them. She is expected to be transferred to New York for a court appearance next week, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan said.

Epstein was awaiting trial on federal charges of trafficking minors between 2002 and 2005 when he was found hanged in a New York City jail in August. Medical examiners concluded his death was a suicide.

“Given what happened to Epstein and the special attention to this case, I would imagine there are orders from pretty high up to keep a close eye on her,” said Andrew Winters, a New Hampshire defense lawyer not involved in Maxwell’s defense who is familiar with the jail.

Maxwell is likely in her own holding cell where she can be observed at all times, said Ted Lothstein, another New Hampshire criminal defense lawyer.

“They are going to have her on the tightest security imaginable,” said Lothstein, who frequently visits the jail but is not representing the British socialite.

A jail attendant directed requests for comment to a spokeswoman for the U.S. Marshals Service, who declined to comment on Maxwell’s conditions. Maxwell’s lawyer, Larry Vogelman, also declined to comment on her conditions.

The jail is a “well-run” and “low-key” facility, Lothstein said, and “a vastly better jail than where she will be sent to in New York City.”

Lothstein said new inmates at the Merrimack County Jail are generally held in a booking area for their first days there, where jail staff are able to keep a close eye on a few surrounding cells.

“There’s nothing there,” Lothstein said of the booking area. “You can’t interact with anyone in any other cell.”

After a psychological examination and risk assessment, inmates are moved into the general population. Women are held in a unit separated from the men.

Given Maxwell’s profile and imminent transfer to New York, she would likely never be moved to the New Hampshire jail’s general population, Lothstein said.

Despite the lack of company and television access in the central booking area, Maxwell is “probably happy to be there” and not in the women’s unit, where she would likely be threatened and insulted, Lothstein said.

“Anybody charged with child sex abuse is public enemy number one in terms of how other inmates perceive them,” Lothstein said. “I would expect she would fall squarely into that category.”

Winters said Maxwell also would be less likely to contract the coronavirus in the central booking area, away from the jail’s general population.

In March, a county official told the Concord Monitor that the jail was taking steps to mitigate spread of the virus, which at the time had about 170 inmates and 115 staff.

That month, a correctional officer at the jail tested positive for the virus, the official told the newspaper.

In general, the facility has a “good reputation” for safety and professionalism on the part of staff and administrators, Winters said.

“If I had to do time, that’s where I would want to do time,” Winters said.

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-p...ell-run-jail-local-lawyers-idUKKBN2442N4?il=0

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

Maxwell's arrest could mean real trouble for Prince Andrew. Presumably she will know the truth behind the allegations he had sex with a minor, and it would be too much to expect she might commit suicide in prison as well to prevent giving testimony.

 

[MenInG]

Jeffrey Epstein accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre on Maxwell arrest

A US woman who says she was brought to Britain aged 17 to have sex with Prince Andrew has said he "should be panicking" following the arrest of Ghislaine Maxwell.

Virginia Roberts Giuffre, one of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein's accusers, says she was trafficked to London by Epstein in 2001.

She spoke to Australia's Channel Nine 60 Minutes programme following the arrest of Epstein's former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, who was arrested on charges of helping Epstein's sexual exploitation of girls and young women, and also perjury.

Prince Andrew and Ghislaine Maxwell both deny allegations made against them.

 

[MenInG]

Jeffrey Epstein's longtime confidante Ghislaine Maxwell was transferred Monday to New York to face charges that she recruited women and girls, one as young as 14, for him to sexually abuse, the Bureau of Prisons confirmed.

Prosecutors have asked a judge to schedule a Friday court appearance in Manhattan federal court for Maxwell, 58, who was arrested last week at a one-million-dollar estate she had purchased in New Hampshire.

Maxwell, the daughter of British publishing magnate Robert Maxwell, was the former girlfriend and longtime close associate of Epstein, who killed himself in a Manhattan jail last August while he awaited trial on federal sex trafficking charges.

Maxwell has been indicted on multiple charges, including that she conspired to entice girls as young as 14 to engage in illegal sex acts with Epstein from 1994 through 1997.

Several of Epstein's victims have described Maxwell as his chief enabler, recruiting and grooming young girls for abuse. She has denied wrongdoing and called claims against her "absolute rubbish".

In a letter to a judge Sunday, prosecutors said they have communicated with Maxwell's defence lawyer, Christian Everdell, who would like a Friday bail hearing where she will be arraigned.

Prosecutors have said Maxwell "poses an extreme risk of flight". Maxwell has three passports, is wealthy with lots of international connections, and has "absolutely no reason to stay in the United States and face the possibility of a lengthy prison sentence", they wrote in a memo.

She is currently being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.

The Brooklyn lockup has had controversies of its own. Last month, an inmate died after correctional officers sprayed him with pepper spray.

A week-long power failure at the jail in January 2019 sparked unrest among shivering inmates. In March, the jail had the federal prison system's first inmate to test positive for coronavirus.

The Bureau of Prisons has been the subject of intense scrutiny since Epstein took his own life while in custody in August, which Attorney General William Barr said was the "perfect storm of screw-ups".

The agency has been plagued for years by serious misconduct, violence and staffing shortages so severe that guards often work overtime day after day or are forced to work mandatory double shifts and has struggled recently with an exploding number of coronavirus cases in prisons across the US.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020...-maxwell-moved-ny-prison-200706170002078.html

 

[KingKhanWC]

Maxwell's arrest could mean real trouble for Prince Andrew. Presumably she will know the truth behind the allegations he had sex with a minor, and it would be too much to expect she might commit suicide in prison as well to prevent giving testimony.

Kevin Spacey and many other may also know this but wont talk as they are not facing life behind bars....yet.

I will be highly surprised if Maxwell lives to testify, stories already going around she has Covid19 and may not survive.

She also has links with Mossad, as did Epstien and her father was an asset of the MI5, Mossad and CIA. Israel will protect her or possibly take her out as she knows too much.

 

[MenInG]

Prince Andrew has again been urged to speak to investigators by a lawyer representing more than a dozen women who claim they were abused by Jeffrey Epstein.

Gloria Allred says the Duke of York should not be waiting for a "gold-plated invitation delivered by a footman on a silver platter" before agreeing to an interview with prosecutors in New York.

"It would be really great if he didn't just think about himself and he would think about the victims," said Ms Allred.

Representatives for the prince say he has repeatedly offered his co-operation. That has been contested by investigators probing Epstein's life and crimes.

The billionaire died in his prison cell in New York last summer.

His former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell, who introduced him to Prince Andrew, was charged by the FBI last week with aiding Epstein in trafficking young girls for sex.

One of Epstein's accusers, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, has alleged she was forced to have sex with Andrew while she was a minor.

The Duke and Buckingham Palace have consistently denied the allegation.

"The victims deserve the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth and this delay is just like a water torture test for them," said Ms Allred.

"Every day there is the drip, drip, drip. Will he answer the questions of law enforcement? Will he not? Why not? When?

"He has said he's done nothing wrong. Well, if he's done wrong then step up and give an interview."

Ms Allred represents 16 women who have alleged they were assaulted by Epstein. Since Maxwell's arrest, she said, a number of British women have come forward with new allegations.

She appeared at a news conference alongside a woman, Alicia Arden, who says she was assaulted by Epstein in a hotel room in 1997.

Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell on a pheasant shoot with Prince Andrew, Sandringham, Norfolk. Pic: Albanpix/Shutterstock

Ms Arden filed a police complaint but no further action was taken. "It seemed my complaint was ignored," Ms Arden told reporters.

"Had Jeffrey Epstein been investigated and had he been prosecuted and convicted, perhaps countless victims would have been spared from the sexual assaults and rapes they were forced to suffer," Ms Allred said.

Announcing the charges against Maxwell last week, Audrey Strauss, the acting US attorney for the Southern District of New York, said the "door is open" for Prince Andrew to speak to investigators.

Maxwell has now been transferred from New Hampshire, where she was arrested, to New York. She is not being held at the detention centre where Epstein took his own life last summer.

She is expected to appear in court on Friday to face multiple charges. Prosecutors have opposed bail on the grounds she poses an "extreme risk of flight".

Last month, Ms Strauss's predecessor Geoffrey Berman had filed an application under an international treaty requesting Prince Andrew face questions in the UK.

https://news.sky.com/story/prince-a...ns-accusers-urges-prince-to-speak-up-12022715

 

[marlonbrowndo]

Blatant paedophile. God knows how many other members of that family are the same

 

[MenInG]

In response to the news that New York state has sanctioned Deutsche Bank, the bank put out a statement by a spokesperson.

We acknowledge our error in onboarding Epstein in 2013 and the weakness in our processes, and have learnt from our mistakes and shortcomings. Immediately following Epstein’s arrest, we contacted law enforcement and offered our full assistance with their investigation.

It goes on to mention Danske Estonia and FBME.

The Department of Financial Services factual findings on Danske Estonia and FBME, like our own internal investigation, identified various deficiencies in our oversight and monitoring of the banks that used our clearing services. There was no intentional effort by anyone within the bank to facilitate unlawful activity...while the settlement reflects our upmost [sic] cooperation and transparent engagement with our regulator, it also shows how important it is to continue investing in our controls and enhancing our anti-financial crime capabilities.

In the settlement agreement and $150m penalty for Deutsche announced this morning by New York, financial services superintendent Linda Lacewell added that suspicious financial actions by Epsetin “should have prompted additional scrutiny in light of Mr. Epstein’s history, including:

payments to individuals who were publicly alleged to have been Mr. Epstein’s co-conspirators in sexually abusing young women;
settlement payments totaling over $7 million, as well as dozens of payments to law firms totaling over $6 million for what appear to have been the legal expenses of Mr. Epstein and his co-conspirators;

payments to Russian models, payments for women’s school tuition, hotel and rent expenses, and (consistent with public allegations of prior wrongdoing) payments directly to numerous women with Eastern European surnames; and periodic suspicious cash withdrawals — in total, more than $800,000 over approximately four years.

This substantive failure was compounded by a series of procedural failures, mistakes, and sloppiness in how the Bank managed and oversaw the Epstein accounts.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...new-jersey-primaries-coronavirus-live-updates

 

[MenInG]

Jeffrey Epstein's confidante Ghislaine Maxwell has been made to wear paper clothing and had her bedding removed while in custody in New York over fears she may try to take her own life, an official has said.

Maxwell, 58, the ex-lover of convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, has been given a cellmate to keep her company and is also being constantly monitored at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.

Someone is also always with her while she is behind bars, an official revealed to the AP news agency on condition of anonymity.

She is being much more closely monitored than when she was initially arrested in New Hampshire last week.

Federal officials, rather than those at the Bureau of Prisons, have been specifically tasked with making sure she is protected in case she is attacked by other inmates.

Prison staff were seen to have failed to adequately protect Epstein, who took his own life while in custody awaiting trial last year on charges of sex trafficking.

The financier, 66, was found dead in his cell in New York in August.

Maxwell, the daughter of late media magnate Robert Maxwell, is accused of facilitating his crimes and even joining in sexually abusing girls, according to the indictment against her.

Who's who in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal?

Several Epstein victims have described her as his chief enabler, recruiting and grooming young girls for abuse.

She has denied wrongdoing and called claims against her "absolute rubbish", but faces up to 35 years in jail if convicted.

Maxwell was arrested by the FBI last week at an isolated estate she had bought in New Hampshire.

She had switched her email address, ordered packages under someone else's name and registered at least one new phone number under an alias "G Max", prosecutors have said.

When the agents arrested her, they were not sure that she was even at the home and thought she may have already fled the US to avoid prosecution, the official said.

Maxwell is said to have introduced Epstein to former US president Bill Clinton and Prince Andrew, Duke of York.

One woman, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, claims Andrew had sex with her when she was still a minor. Both Prince Andrew and Buckingham Palace have denied the claims.

The prince last week said he was "bewildered" by claims from US prosecutors investigating Epstein that he was being unco-operative.

https://news.sky.com/story/ghislain...ver-suicide-risk-12025447?dcmp=snt-sf-twitter

 

[MenInG]

Ghislaine Maxwell, the former girlfriend and longtime associate of the late financier Jeffrey Epstein, on Friday forcefully denied charges she lured underage girls so he could sexually abuse them, and said she deserves bail.

Maxwell filed her request in the United States District Court in Manhattan eight days after being arrested in New Hampshire, where authorities said she had been hiding at a sprawling property she bought while shielding her identity.

The 58-year-old Maxwell "vigorously denies the charges, intends to fight them, and is entitled to the presumption of innocence", the filing said.

Maxwell has been held since Monday at the Metropolitan Detention Center, a jail in Brooklyn, New York.

She said her detention there put her at "serious risk" of contracting the COVID-19 disease.

She also said she is not a flight risk, citing her lack of a prior criminal records and her remaining in the US after Epstein's arrest last July.

Prosecutors have called Maxwell an "extreme risk of flight" who should remain in jail until trial.

Her arraignment is on July 14, and she faces up to 35 years in prison if convicted.

The arrest of Maxwell, the daughter of late British publishing magnate Robert Maxwell, came nearly one year after Epstein pleaded not guilty to charges he sexually abused women and girls in Manhattan and Florida.

Epstein died last August 10 at age 66 by hanging himself in jail. He had before his arrest socialised over the years with many prominent people including British royal family member Prince Andrew, US President Donald Trump and former US President Bill Clinton.

Prosecutors accused Maxwell of recruiting girls as young as 14 for Epstein from 1994 to 1997.

Maxwell faces six criminal charges, including four related to transporting minors for illegal sexual acts, and two for perjury in depositions about her role in Epstein's abuses

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020...gia-sophia-museum-status-200710131419431.html

 

[MenInG]

Ghislaine Maxwell should be released on bail of $5m (£4m) while awaiting trial for sex trafficking minors because of the risk of contracting coronavirus in jail, her lawyers have argued.

The British socialite was arrested on 2 July and is accused of assisting convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein's abuse of minors.

In documents submitted to New York court, her lawyers said she "vigorously" denies the charges.

She faces up to 35 years if convicted.

Prosecutors allege that between 1994 and 1997 Ms Maxwell helped Epstein groom girls as young as 14. Epstein died in prison on 10 August as he awaited his trial on sex trafficking charges. His death was determined to be suicide.

Ms Maxwell's defence team said her detention at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York, puts her at "serious risk" of contracting coronavirus.

They said she was not a flight risk and asked the judge to release her from custody on $5m (£4m) bail, signed by six of her associates and secured by a $3.75m (£3m) on property in the UK.

Under the proposed bail conditions, Ms Maxwell, 58, would surrender her passports from the US, UK and France and would confine herself to a property in New York with electronic GPS monitoring.

Her lawyers are arguing Ms Maxwell is not Jeffrey Epstein and that she had not been in contact with him for more than a decade before his death.

US federal prosecutors have said she is an "extreme risk of flight" and should remain in custody because her wealth, multiple passports, and the length of her potential sentence mean there's a risk she may abscond.

A federal judge in Manhattan will decide on Tuesday whether to grant bail.

What are the details of the charges?

Four of the charges Ms Maxwell faces relate to the years 1994-97 when she was, according to the indictment, among Epstein's closest associates and also in an "intimate relationship" with him. The other two charges are allegations of perjury in 2016.

The indictment says Ms Maxwell "assisted, facilitated, and contributed to Jeffrey Epstein's abuse of minor girls by, among other things, helping Epstein to recruit, groom and ultimately abuse victims known to Maxwell and Epstein to be under the age of 18".

Specifically, she is charged with:

Ms Maxwell is the daughter of late British media mogul Robert Maxwell.

A well-connected socialite, she is said to have introduced Epstein to many of her wealthy and powerful friends, including Bill Clinton and the Duke of York (who was accused in the 2015 court papers of touching a woman at Jeffrey Epstein's US home, although the court subsequently struck out allegations against the duke).

Buckingham Palace has said that "any suggestion of impropriety with underage minors" by the duke was "categorically untrue".

Ms Maxwell has mostly been out of public view since 2016 and was arrested at her Bradford, New Hampshire, home on 2 July.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us...3=@BBCWorld&at_campaign=64&at_custom2=twitter

 

[MenInG]

A leading extradition lawyer has told Sky News it is "very likely" the UK government and the Home Office will play some part in deciding if and when Prince Andrew talks to authorities in the US about Jeffrey Epstein.

At the moment the Duke of York won't and can't be extradited because authorities in the US only want to talk to him as a witness regarding convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, but last month it was reported that prosecutors had submitted a mutual legal assistance request (MLA) asking the Home Office for their assistance to speak to Prince Andrew.

Karen Todner, who dealt with attempts to extradite computer hacker Gary McKinnon and alleged hacker Lauri Love to the US, told Sky News an MLA makes it virtually impossible for the UK government and Home Office to avoid the ongoing battle with Prince Andrew and they will inevitably be involved.

She said: "From my understanding the Americans are not happy about Prince Andrew giving a prepared statement, that's not what they want from him, they want to have the opportunity to ask him questions and for him to be under oath when he does that."

She added: "Prince Andrew doesn't have diplomatic immunity so if the process has started it will follow through. There are various reasons that the UK authorities would have to look at to show that the mutual legal assistance request was valid, that it was asked for the right reasons, but I can't see any issues with that at the moment."

Asked how long that process may take, Ms Todner said: "I should think that this MLA is sitting on some Home Office desk with someone with very hot fingers trying not to touch it, but at some point they are going to have to touch it and I think it'll certainly be resolved within the next six months or so, if his legal team decide to judicially review the issuing of the mutual legal assistance request that in itself can take anything up to a year."

Two weeks ago Prince Andrew's legal team again stressed that they have offered to speak to the Department of Justice (DOJ) in the US, who wish to speak to him as a witness, and not a suspect, regarding his friendship with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

They said: "The Duke of York has offered his assistance to the DOJ investigation on a number of occasions this year. In addition, the working group have pro-actively contacted the DOJ twice in the last month and have received no response. That is why we remain utterly bewildered by the DOJ's approach."

But prosecutors in the US have said they're still waiting to hear from them. Ms Todner believes the confusion probably lies in how both sides want him to give evidence, with Prince Andrew's team doing everything they can to stop him being interviewed in person.

Ms Todner said: "I would think that the reason they don't want him to be effectively cross-examined, questioned orally is that he gave a fairly disastrous television interview and I think that they just don't want that scenario to play out again in a situation where he's under oath and that evidence might then be called into a court."

She added: "I think their priorities will be to minimise the risk to him of becoming a suspect, and to ensure that they have control, as much as they possibly can, over what he says so that he doesn't have another disastrous interview like he had before."

Prosecutors have said they are still want to talk to Prince Andrew following the arrest of his friend, and Jeffrey Epstein's former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell. Maxwell is expected to appear via videolink for a bail hearing in New York on Tuesday, charged with aiding Epstein's sex crimes.

Ms Todner said the chances of Maxwell taking a plea bargain deal are extremely high, and that could mean more questions for Prince Andrew.

"The odds are always stacked up monumentally high against people who want to go for trial in America so the likelihood is, the odds say that she'll take a plea agreement," she said.

"If you take a plea agreement in America, you are interviewed by American police officers and attorneys and you have to give full and frank information for anything that they want to ask you, so you have to clear the decks effectively, and they have a very wide, a very broad arena that they can ask questions over."

When asked how likely it was that the Americans would back down on wanting Prince Andrew to talk in person, Ms Todner said it was "very unlikely".

"My experience of the Americans in judicial proceedings is that they feel they police the world and that what they say goes, and you've got to have a fairly compelling reason for what they want, not to happen," she said.

Prince Andrew has always denied seeing anything improper that he believed should be reported to the police during his time with Epstein and strenuously denies the allegations made against him by Virginia Roberts Guiffre.

https://news.sky.com/story/very-lik...nswer-questions-over-jeffrey-epstein-12027713

 

[The Viper]

U.S judge has scheduled Jeffrey Epstein's former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell's trial for 12 July 2021

 

[The Viper]

Ghislaine Maxwell pleads not guilty to criminal charges related to alleged dealings with billionaire Jeffrey Epstein

 

[The Viper]

Ghislaine Maxwell trial date set in Epstein sex trafficking case

The trial of Ghislaine Maxwell, the British socialite and ex-girlfriend of the late convicted US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, will begin in almost exactly a year's time, on 12 July 2021.

Ms Maxwell has pleaded not guilty to charges of trafficking minors for him.

She filed the plea at a hearing via video link in New York, where she remains in prison while awaiting trial.

Her lawyers have asked for her release on bail of $5m (£4m) because of the risk of getting coronavirus in prison.

Ms Maxwell was arrested on 2 July. If convicted, she faces up to 35 years if convicted.

US federal prosecutors say she is an "extreme" flight risk and should remain in custody.

Prosecutors allege that between 1994 and 1997, Ms Maxwell helped Epstein groom girls as young as 14. They have said that they expect "one or more victims" to testify.

Epstein died in prison on 10 August 2019 as he awaited his trial on sex trafficking charges. His death was determined to be suicide.

Last week, Ms Maxwell's lawyers said her detention at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York, put her at "serious risk" of contracting coronavirus.

They said she was not a flight risk and asked the judge to release her from custody on bail signed by six of her associates and secured by a $3.75m property in the UK.

Under the proposed bail conditions, Ms Maxwell, 58, would surrender her passports from the US, UK and France and confine herself to a property in New York with electronic GPS monitoring.

But prosecutors say her wealth, multiple passports and and the length of her potential sentence means there is a risk she could abscond.

Four of the charges Ms Maxwell faces relate to the years 1994-97 when she was, according to the indictment, among Epstein's closest associates and also in an "intimate relationship" with him. The other two charges are allegations of perjury in 2016.

The indictment says Ms Maxwell "assisted, facilitated, and contributed to Jeffrey Epstein's abuse of minor girls by, among other things, helping Epstein to recruit, groom and ultimately abuse victims known to Maxwell and Epstein to be under the age of 18".

Who is Ghislaine Maxwell?
Ms Maxwell is the daughter of late British media mogul Robert Maxwell.

A well-connected socialite, she is said to have introduced Epstein to many of her wealthy and powerful friends, including Bill Clinton and the Duke of York (who was accused in the 2015 court papers of touching a woman at Jeffrey Epstein's US home, although the court subsequently struck out allegations against the duke).

Buckingham Palace has said that "any suggestion of impropriety with underage minors" by the duke was "categorically untrue".

Ms Maxwell, who has mostly been out of public view since 2016, was arrested at her remote estate in Bradford, New Hampshire, on 2 July.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us...at-apps.in-app-msg.whatsapp.trial.link1_.auin

 

[Abdullah719]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Jeffrey Epstein’s former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell has been denied bail and will remain behind bars on charges she recruited teenage girls for the U.S. billionaire to sexually abuse in the 1990s</p>— Sky News Breaking (@SkyNewsBreak) <a href="https://twitter.com/SkyNewsBreak/status/1283118724917211137?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 14, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[KingKhanWC]

Ghislaine will no doubt never get to court to testify against these evil people, as she is the same.

Prince Andrew should be arrested too, disgrace to this nation. In fact get rid of the Royals now, perfect time.

 

[GenericBrand]

Brits should demand the Americans hand over that American diplomat's wife that killed a civilian and fled.

 

[sweep_shot]

Ghislaine will no doubt never get to court to testify against these evil people, as she is the same.

Prince Andrew should be arrested too, disgrace to this nation. In fact get rid of the Royals now, perfect time.

Yeah. She may end up dead just like Epstein.

Many powerful people at the top are possibly involved.

 

[Robert]

Ghislaine will no doubt never get to court to testify against these evil people, as she is the same.

Prince Andrew should be arrested too, disgrace to this nation. In fact get rid of the Royals now, perfect time.

Is the same as what?

 

[KingKhanWC]

Is the same as what?

Ghislaine like Epstein both worked for Mossad, who used them to blackmail powerful people to further the Zionist agenda. Just like Epstein she is in danger of being whacked.

Its upto the US prosecuters to protect her and ensure she testifies against all these high profile peados!

What is your view on Andrew? Why doesnt his mother demand he goes to the US and gives evidence? Royal family could be protecting a serial peado, but all hush hush in the media. There should be mass protests against this, the abuse so many young girls faced by so manh powerful people, leaders ,politicians, royals shows western elitism is has so much clear evil but no lets go bomb some kids in Syria or Libya.

 

[sweep_shot]

Ghislaine like Epstein both worked for Mossad, who used them to blackmail powerful people to further the Zionist agenda. Just like Epstein she is in danger of being whacked.

Its upto the US prosecuters to protect her and ensure she testifies against all these high profile peados!

What is your view on Andrew? Why doesnt his mother demand he goes to the US and gives evidence? Royal family could be protecting a serial peado, but all hush hush in the media. There should be mass protests against this, the abuse so many young girls faced by so manh powerful people, leaders ,politicians, royals shows western elitism is has so much clear evil but no lets go bomb some kids in Syria or Libya.

Royal family itself is involved possibly. Jimmy Savile was very close with royal family.

Many of the past British politicians (for example - Cyril Smith) were involved also.

Seems like a powerful global cabal.

 

[MenInG]

Donald Trump has bestowed his good wishes on Ghislaine Maxwell, who faces federal charges for allegedly enabling the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking of minor girls.

At a press conference ostensibly to discuss the coronavirus crisis gripping the US on Tuesday, Trump took questions from reporters, one of whom asked him about Maxwell’s recent arrest and whether she might implicate some of the “powerful men” who formed part of Epstein’s jet set social circle.

“I don’t know – I haven’t really been following it too much. I just wish her well, frankly,” Trump responded. “I have met her numerous times over the years, especially since I lived in Palm Beach, and I guess they lived in Palm Beach. But I wish her well, whatever it is.”

Maxwell, a longtime associate of Epstein, was arrested this month and charged with conspiracy to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, enticement of a minor to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, conspiracy to transport minors with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, and perjury.

Epstein was arrested last July and killed himself in federal jail in August. His death sparked a flurry of speculation about what he knew about the powerful figures from the worlds of politics, science and entertainment with whom he had frequently associated, including figures like Trump, Bill Clinton and Britain’s Prince Andrew.

Responding to the reporter’s question, Trump concluded by saying: “I don’t know the situation with Prince Andrew. Just don’t know. Not aware of it.”

Prince Andrew has categorically denied claims of sexual misconduct.

One picture taken at the Mar-a-Lago resort in February 2000 shows Trump and his now wife, Melania, with Maxwell and Epstein.

Maxwell’s trial date has been set for 12 July next year. The 58-year-old faces up to 35 years in federal prison if convicted of all six counts.

Maxwell has repeatedly denied wrongdoing. Her lawyers have said she “vigorously denies the charges” and is “entitled to the presumption of innocence”.

Maxwell was arrested at a mansion in New Hampshire in an FBI raid that ended months of speculation about her whereabouts, fueled by rumors of sightings across America and overseas. Prosecutors have contended that she crafted a life in hiding, designed to evade the authorities, while her lawyers say she was in touch with authorities and merely keeping a low profile.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jul/21/donald-trump-ghislaine-maxwell-i-wish-her-well

 

[The Viper]

Ghislaine Maxwell fails to block release of documents, obtain gag order: U.S. court rulings

Ghislaine Maxwell, the former associate of late financier Jeffrey Epstein, suffered dual setbacks in a U.S. court on Thursday, as a judge authorized the release of new materials related to her, while another judge refused to block prosecutors and lawyers from publicly discussing her criminal case.

U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska in Manhattan directed the release of large portions of more than 80 documents from a 2015 civil lawsuit against Maxwell, the British socialite now facing criminal charges that she lured girls for Epstein to sexually abuse.

The materials ordered unsealed include flight logs from Epstein’s private jets, testimony from depositions in 2016 in which Maxwell’s lawyers said she was asked “intrusive questions” about her sex life, and police reports from Palm Beach, Florida, where Epstein had a home.

Maxwell, 58, is being held in a Brooklyn jail after pleading not guilty last week to charges she helped Epstein recruit and eventually abuse girls from 1994 to 1997, and committed perjury by denying knowledge of his abuse in depositions.

Preska said the presumption the public had a right to access the documents outweighed Maxwell’s arguments to keep them under wraps, including that they concerned “extremely personal” matters whose release could prove embarrassing or annoying.

The judge gave Maxwell one week to file an emergency appeal, but said both sides should proceed as though the documents will be made public “within a week.”

Lawyers for Maxwell did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Earlier, U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan rejected Maxwell’s separate effort to block prosecutors, FBI agents and lawyers for some accusers from making out-of-court statements about her criminal case.

Nathan, who oversees the criminal case, said a gag order was not needed to protect Maxwell’s right to a fair trial, but that she “will not hesitate” to act if needed.

A trial is scheduled for July 12, 2021.

Epstein was arrested in July last year and pleaded not guilty to separate sexual abuse charges. He was found hanged on Aug. 10 in his jail cell at age 66, in a death ruled a suicide.

Before his arrest, Epstein had socialized over the years with many prominent people, including Britain’s Prince Andrew, U.S. President Donald Trump and former President Bill Clinton.

FAIR TRIAL AT ISSUE
The documents that Preska ordered unsealed were part of Virginia Giuffre’s defamation lawsuit against Maxwell, which was confidentially settled in 2017.

Giuffre has accused Epstein of sexually abusing her when she was underage, and Maxwell of aiding in the abuse. Maxwell has denied her claims.

Some information, including the names of “non-parties” and other Epstein accusers who have not publicly revealed their identities, will remain redacted.

Laura Menninger, a lawyer for Maxwell, told Preska the appeal reflected the “great concerns” Maxwell might not get a fair criminal trial if more information about her past became public, “given the intensity and the scrutiny” surrounding her.

Some records from the Giuffre case, including parts of Maxwell’s deposition testimony, were unsealed the day before Epstein died, and one day after he executed his will.

Epstein reached a nonprosecution agreement with U.S. prosecutors in Miami in 2007, and pleaded guilty the following year to Florida prostitution charges, rather than face federal sex trafficking charges.

He was sentenced to 13 months in jail, and the nonprosecution agreement is now widely seen as too lenient.

https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-p...ain-gag-order-u-s-court-rulings-idUKKCN24O16Q

 

[Bigboii]

I think the judge who was suppose to be taking care of her case had an incident where her son got murdered and husband got shot up so••••

 

[The Viper]

Ghislaine Maxwell files emergency appeal to block release of deposition on her sex life

Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime associate of Jeffrey Epstein, on Thursday urged a U.S. appeals court to block the release of a deposition about her sex life, saying it could destroy her ability to get a fair trial against criminal charges she aided the late financier’s sexual abuse of girls.

Maxwell filed an emergency request with the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan one day after a federal judge rejected her claim that her need for confidentiality outweighed the public’s right to see the April 2016 deposition, which was taken in a civil defamation lawsuit.

“Absent a stay from this court, it will forever let the cat out of the bag,” Maxwell’s lawyers wrote, noting another judge’s recent refusal to block publication of former National Security Adviser John Bolton’s memoir because copies had already been circulated.

Late Thursday, U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska, who oversees the civil case, ordered the separate release of dozens of other documents that the British socialite had wanted sealed, rejecting her lawyers’ bid for an emergency phone conference.

The 2016 deposition is scheduled for release on Aug. 3, unless the appeals court orders a delay or further arguments.

Maxwell, 58, has pleaded not guilty to helping Epstein recruit and eventually abuse three girls from 1994 to 1997, and committing perjury by denying her involvement under oath.

The deposition came from a now-settled lawsuit against Maxwell by Virginia Giuffre, who had accused Epstein of having kept her as a “sex slave” with Maxwell’s assistance. She wants the disclosure of more information from her case.

Maxwell’s lawyers have accused Giuffre of leaking the deposition, and “in conjunction with the government” setting a “perjury trap” for their client.

They said Maxwell had been promised confidentiality before being forced to answer many “personal, sensitive, and allegedly incriminatory questions,” only to be sandbagged when prosecutors quoted from the deposition in her indictment.

The lawyers said this included when Maxwell responded “I don’t know what you’re talking about” when asked if Epstein had a scheme to recruit underage girls for sexual massages.

Maxwell was arrested on July 2 at a New Hampshire home where prosecutors said she was hiding out.

She was denied bail and is being held in a Brooklyn jail after the judge overseeing her criminal case called her a flight risk.

“The government has indicted Ghislaine Maxwell. The media has all but convicted her,” Maxwell’s lawyers said. “All Ms. Maxwell is asking is that this court have a fair opportunity to review the merits of the district court’s decision before the deposition material is unsealed for all time.”

Epstein was found hanged at age 66 last August in a Manhattan jail, while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges for abusing women and girls in Manhattan and Florida from 2002 to 2005. He had pleaded not guilty.

https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-p...e-of-deposition-on-her-sex-life-idUKKCN24V3IJ

 

[Firebat]

Ghislaine Maxwell-Jeffrey Epstein emails revealed in new court papers

Emails between UK socialite Ghislaine Maxwell and the late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein have been revealed in a trove of unsealed court documents.

Epstein tells Ms Maxwell she has done "nothing wrong" in the 2015 exchange, which appears to contradict her earlier claims of not having contacted him.

And in a deposition, accuser Virginia Giuffre says Ms Maxwell was as equally involved in sex trafficking as Epstein.

Ms Maxwell faces a trial in the case in July and has pleaded not guilty.

She remains in custody in New York, charged with trafficking minors for Epstein and perjury. She could face up to 35 years in prison if convicted.

Epstein died in prison on 10 August 2019 as he awaited his trial on sex trafficking charges. His death was determined to be suicide.

Read more: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-53605784

 

[The Viper]

U.S. appeals court delays release of Ghislaine Maxwell deposition

A U.S. appeals court on Friday temporarily delayed the release of a 2016 deposition about Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex life, after she argued it could destroy her ability to get a fair trial against criminal charges she aided the late financier Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse of girls.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued the order after last-ditch scrambles by Maxwell to keep potentially embarrassing information, which her lawyer said could make it “difficult if not impossible” to find an impartial jury, out of the public eye.

Maxwell’s appeal will be heard on an expedited basis, with oral argument scheduled for Sept. 22.

Her deposition had been taken in April 2016 for a now-settled civil defamation lawsuit against the British socialite by Virginia Giuffre, who had accused Epstein of having kept her as a “sex slave” with Maxwell’s assistance.

Dozens of other documents from that case were released late on Thursday, after the presiding judge concluded that the public had a right to see them.

The release of Maxwell’s deposition had been scheduled for Monday, pending the outcome of the appeal.

Lawyers for Maxwell and Giuffre did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Maxwell, 58, has pleaded not guilty to helping Epstein recruit and eventually abuse three girls from 1994 to 1997, and committing perjury by denying her involvement under oath.

She was arrested on July 2 and has been held in a Brooklyn jail after a judge denied bail, calling her a flight risk. Maxwell’s trial is scheduled for next July.

Epstein was found hanged at age 66 last August in a Manhattan jail, while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges for abusing women and girls in Manhattan and Florida from 2002 to 2005. He had also pleaded not guilty.

In seeking to keep Maxwell’s deposition sealed, her lawyers said in court papers on Thursday she had been promised confidentiality by Giuffre’s lawyers and the presiding judge at the time, through an agreed-upon protective order, before answering many personal, sensitive and “allegedly incriminatory” questions about her dealings with Epstein.

They said further that Maxwell was blindsided when prosecutors quoted from the deposition in her indictment, and accusing Giuffre of leaking the deposition to the government.

In a court filing on Friday, Giuffre’s lawyers called Maxwell’s appeal “frivolous, and a transparent attempt to further delay the release of documents to which the public has a clear and unequivocal right to access.”

The lawyers also called the allegation Giuffre leaked the deposition “completely and utterly false.”

Friday’s order also covers a second deposition by an unnamed Epstein accuser that Maxwell also wanted kept under seal. Other documents from Giuffre’s lawsuit that quote or disclose information from the depositions also remain sealed.

Among the documents released on Thursday were a few emails between Epstein and Maxwell dated January 2015, including one where Epstein told Maxwell that she had done “nothing wrong.”

Lawyers for Maxwell said on July 10 in a court filing requesting bail in her criminal case that she had not been in contact with Epstein for “more than a decade.”

Maxwell is now battling prosecutors in her criminal case over the scope of a protective order intended to protect her right to a fair trial while ensuring the privacy of her accusers.

https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-p...of-ghislaine-maxwell-deposition-idUKKCN24W323

 

[MenInG]

Virginia Giuffre was made to have sex with a mystery prince, according to recently unsealed court documents.

Ms Giuffre claims she was a victim of late financier and convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

She has previously said she was made to have sex when she was 17 with Prince Andrew, who categorically denies any sexual contact or relationship with her.

Ms Giuffre, who is also known as Roberts, said during a 2016 deposition that she had been pressured into having sex with numerous rich and powerful men, including politicians, entrepreneurs, a scientist, a fashion designer and "another prince that I don't know his name".

When asked if she could remember "anything else" about the men, she said: "This is very hard for me and very frustrating to have to go over this. I don't recall all of the people. There was a huge amount of people that I was sent to."

There was no suggestion, however, that the mystery prince was a member of the British monarchy.

The accused men have denied the allegations.

In a manuscript written by Ms Giuffre, titled The Billionaire Playboy's Club, she also gave more details about an alleged encounter with Prince Andrew in London.

She wrote that the Duke of York had whispered "sweet nothings" in her ear and kissed her neck while on the dance floor of the nightclub Tramp during an evening out with Epstein and his ex-girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell.

Ms Giuffre wrote: "I would just giggle not really knowing how to reply to an ageing man with a bad smile and terrible moves."

She said the pair had a bath together at the home of Maxwell, who has known Andrew since university.

Ms Giuffre wrote: "He was adorning my young body, particularly my feet, caressing my toes and licking my arches."

She alleges they had sex, something that left her with "feelings of dismay".

She claims she had sex with Andrew on three separate occasions.

The documents are from a now-settled defamation lawsuit filed by Ms Giuffre and released by US District Judge Loretta Preska.

Giuffre claimed in the suit that Maxwell recruited her in 2000 to be a sexual servant for Epstein.

Two depositions given by Maxwell remain sealed after an appeal from the British socialite's lawyers who insist the documents could make a fair trial impossible. An appeal on this will be heard on 22 September.

Maxwell, who dated Epstein in the 1990s, is in custody awaiting trial on charges of trafficking minors for her former partner.

She has pleaded not guilty and will go on trial in July next year.

Also among the released papers were emails Maxwell and Epstein exchanged in January 2015, when Ms Giuffre's allegations were gaining media attention.

Responding to an email from Maxwell, Epstein - who was by then a convicted sex offender - wrote: "You have done nothing wrong and I (would) urge you to start acting like it."

He suggested she go outside and hold her head high, "not as an (escaping) convict".

https://news.sky.com/story/epstein-...made-to-have-sex-with-mystery-prince-12040246

 

[MenInG]

Lawyers for Ghislaine Maxwell, the accused accomplice in Jeffery Epstein's child sex trafficking, claimed on Monday that she is being subjected to 24-hour surveillance and body scans while in pretrial detention in a New York correctional facility, conditions they say are "uniquely onerous".

Epstein, a convicted sex offender, was found dead in the summer of 2019 in the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC), the same New York federal jail where Maxwell is detained. Epstein's death was ruled a suicide.

Maxwell, Epstein's longtime confidant, has been at the MDC since early July, after she was apprehended on a large New Hampshire property which she reportedly bought with cash.

Epstein had pleaded not guilty to charges of sex trafficking involving dozens of underage girls, some as young as 14, and faced up to 45 years in prison if convicted.

The alleged offences took place at Epstein's homes in Manhattan, New York and in Palm Beach, Florida between 2002 and 2005. Maxwell is accused of grooming the girls for abuse. She has denied the charges.

Epstein's sudden death and connections to powerful people spawned conspiracy theories about whether he actually committed suicide.

Flags fly in front of the Metropolitan Detention Center, Monday, July 6, 2020, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. Jeffrey Epstein's longtime confidante Ghislaine Maxwell has been transferred to New
Flags fly in front of the Metropolitan Detention Center where Maxwell was transferred in early July [Mark Lennihan/AP Photo]
Maxwell's lawyers have requested that the New York Bureau of Prisons (BOP) take her out of solitary confinement and release her into the general prison population.

"It has become apparent that the BOP's treatment of Ms. Maxwell is a reaction to the circumstances surrounding the pretrial detention and death of Mr. Epstein", lawyers said in court documents (PDF) filed on August 11.

The filing claims Maxwell's cell undergoes searches "multiple times a day" and she has been forced to undergo numerous body scans".

"Maxwell is being treated worse than other similarly situated pretrial detainees, which significantly impacts her ability to prepare a defense and be ready for trial on the schedule set by the Court", the filing continued.

The New York BOP did not immediately respond to Al Jazeera's request for comment, but does not typically comment on the conditions in which detainees are placed.

The filing also asks the judge to make public the identities of the three accusers in the case, so that Maxwell and her defence counsel can "investigate the charges against her" which "took place on unspecified dates roughly 25 years ago in multiple locations".

Epstein's alleged abuse in which Maxwell is accused of participating took place in New York, Florida, New Mexico, and the United Kingdon, according to the court filing.

US District Judge Alison Nathan in Manhattan and the team responsible for Maxwell's prosecution have yet to respond to the filing.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020...ns-jail-uniquely-onerous-200811182309454.html

 

[MenInG]

US prosecutors have rejected a claim by Ghislaine Maxwell that she is being treated "worse" than other inmates at the Brooklyn federal jail where she is being held.

Maxwell, a close friend of the late financier and convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, is behind bars awaiting trial on charges including conspiracy to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts.

The 58-year-old British socialite was arrested last month when FBI agents raided a property in New Hampshire.

In a letter to a US district judge earlier this week, Maxwell's lawyers objected to her being subjected to "uniquely onerous" conditions, including 24-hour surveillance and numerous body scans, and said she should be treated like other pre-trial detainees.

They called her treatment in jail "a reaction" to Epstein's jailing and death.

However, prosecutors said Maxwell was being isolated for reasons of "safety, security, and the orderly functioning of the facility", and that it was appropriate to closely monitor new inmates facing a "strong likelihood" of many years in prison.

Maxwell's lawyers also argued that they cannot properly investigate the charges against her because prosecutors will not tell them the identities of three accusers named in Maxwell's indictment.

But prosecutors said it was "at best premature" to require they disclose the identities of the three alleged victims.

They added that they have acted "expeditiously" in turning over materials, and prison officials had agreed to give Maxwell 13 hours a day to review materials for her scheduled July 2021 trial, rather than the normal three hours.

Maxwell's lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Maxwell has pleaded not guilty to helping Epstein recruit and eventually abuse three girls from 1994 to 1997, and committing perjury by denying her involvement under oath.

She was denied bail in July after prosecutors argued she was a high risk to flee because evidence against her was strong and she had access to millions of dollars.

Maxwell also has connections worldwide along with citizenship in the US, the UK and France.

Epstein, 66, was found hanged last August in a Manhattan jail, while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

According to reports, the pair dated for a while but the relationship later turned into something akin to a close friendship.

https://news.sky.com/story/ghislaine-maxwells-complaint-about-treatment-in-jail-rejected-12048869