US financier’s sex case brings claims of Prince Andrew’s involvement UPDATED

UPDATED: Prince returns from holiday, Palace names complainant
Prince Andrew has returned from a skiing holiday in Switzerland to help combat claims arising from a new sex case against US financier and investor Jeffrey Epstein.

Buckingham Palace officials have taken the unusual step of again issuing denials that Prince Andrew was had “sexual relations” with a minor who alleges she had been forced into sexual slavery by Mr Epstein.

Buckingham Palace describes the claims that go back more than a decade as “lurid and deeply personal.”

It names the complainant as Virginia Roberts, who using the alias Jane Doe #3 in US court papers, alleges she had sex with Prince Andrew in London, New York and on Mr Epstein’s private island in the US Virgin Islands when aged 17.

Ms Roberts has repeated her alleged encounters with Prince Andrew in interviews with UK newspapers at the weekend.

Prince Andrew personally decided to issue a strong denial while still in the Swiss resort of Verbier.

He approved a statement vehemently denying “any form of sexual contact or relationship with Virginia Roberts” and added: “The allegations made are false and without any foundation.”

Palace lawyers are also said to be closely reviewing coverage and “assessing the legal position in respect of Sunday’s newspapers”.

EARLIER REPORT:
A challenge to a guilty plea by US financier Jeffrey Epstein to a sex charge has now involved Prince Andrew and top US lawyer Alan Dershowitz.

Both vigorously deny allegations of sexual violation of a minor in a civil suit over a deal that US prosecutors struck with Mr Epstein in 2008.

Mr Dershowitz acted for Mr Stein in the case, where he pleaded guilty in Florida state court to a felony charge of solicitation of prostitution involving a minor. He spent about 13 months behind bars.

The new claims allege that federal prosecutors violated the rights of Mr Epstein’s alleged victims by not consulting them while negotiating and entering into the deal.

Mr Dershowitz, a professor emeritus at Harvard Law School, helped Mr Epstein negotiate an agreement with the federal government. By agreeing to plead guilty to the state charge Mr Epstein avoided federal prosecution.

The allegations against Prince Andrew and Mr Dershowitz appear in a December 30 motion filed by plaintiffs in a West Palm Beach federal court asking a judge to allow two additional alleged victims – listed as “Jane Doe #3” and “Jane Doe #4” – to join the suit.

The motion, filed by Florida lawyer Bradley Edwards and University of Utah law professor Paul Cassell, claims Mr Epstein forced Jane Doe #3, under 18 and a minor at the time uner Florida state law, “to have sexual relations” with Prince Andrew and Mr Dershowitz on several occasions.

It’s alleged the deal Mr Dershowitz helped negotiate “provided protection for himself against criminal prosecution.”

As part of the deal, federal prosecutors granted immunity to several “potential co-conspirators” of Mr Epstein. The government never identified Mr. Dershowitz as one of the potential co-conspirators.

Mr. Dershowitz says, “I couldn’t have remained on the case if I were ever the subject of any investigation,” adding that the sex claims are a “completely, totally fabricated, made-up story.

He says he is an “innocent victim of an extortion conspiracy” and will deny the claims in a sworn affidavit.

He also vows to try to initiate disbarment proceedings against Mr. Edwards and Mr. Cassell, a former federal judge.

A Buckingham Palace spokeswoman says “any suggestion of impropriety with underage minors is categorically untrue.”

In 2011, Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, stepped down as the UK’s special representative on trade and investment, months after the British royal was heavily criticised over his ties to Mr. Epstein, as well as to controversial figures in the Middle East.

Mr. Dershowitz says before taking him on as a client, he “knew Mr. Epstein socially.” He says he and his family visited Mr. Epstein’s private island in the US Virgin Islands about a decade ago

“My one-day visit to the island was with my wife and young daughter, and I was never out of their presence,” he says. “I was never alone with Jeffrey Epstein in the company of any young women.”

In a statement, Mr Cassell declined to discuss what steps he and his co-counsel, Mr Edwards, took to verify the allegations. “We carefully investigate all of the allegations in our pleadings before presenting them,” he says.