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Buckingham Palace defends Prince Andrew in billionaire friend's 'sex slave' case
Palace denies claims after document says girl was forced into 'sexual relations' with prince
PUBLISHED : Saturday, 03 January, 2015, 3:36am
UPDATED : Saturday, 03 January, 2015, 6:04pm
The Guardian
Prince Andrew. Photo: Reuters
A woman who claims that an American investment banker loaned her to rich and powerful friends as an underage "sex slave" has alleged in a US court document that she was repeatedly forced to have sexual relations with Prince Andrew.
The accusation against the Duke of York is contained in a motion filed in a Florida court this week in connection with a long-running lawsuit brought by women who say they were exploited by Jeffrey Epstein, a multi-millionaire convicted of soliciting sex with an underage girl after a plea deal.
The woman, who filed the motion anonymously and is known only as "Jane Doe #3", alleges that between 1999 and 2002 she was repeatedly sexually abused by Epstein who, she also alleges, loaned her out to rich and influential men around the world.
Epstein, a known friend of the prince, was convicted in 2008 of soliciting an underage girl for prostitution and served a prison term.
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“Jane Doe #3” made the claim in a motion to be included in an ongoing civil case that accuses federal prosecutors of cutting a plea-bargain deal with Epstein without consulting his victims, in violation of the US Crime Victims Rights’ Act.
The document, a motion to expand an ongoing lawsuit relating to prosecutors' handling of Epstein's case with two new plaintiffs, alleges the woman "was forced to have sexual relations with this prince when she was a minor" in London, New York and on a private Caribbean island owned by Epstein.
The prince is not a named party to the legal claim, which is directed against federal prosecutors. He has not had any opportunity to respond to the allegations in the legal claim.
The woman is said to have been 17 at the time, considered to be a minor in Florida.
In a 2011 Vanity Fair article , Prince Andrew denied any sexual contact with young women associated with Epstein.
Contacted on Thursday, Buckingham Palace declined to comment on the allegations contained in the court document. A palace spokesperson said the royal household would "never comment on an ongoing legal matter".
The BBC reported the palace added: "However, for the avoidance of doubt, any suggestion of impropriety with under age minors is categorically untrue".
However, another close associate of Epstein who is also accused in the lawsuit, Alan Dershowitz, said that the woman's accusations against himself were "totally false and made up".
The Harvard law professor and esteemed criminal defence attorney who later advised Epstein on how to respond to the FBI's investigation is accused in the court motion of having sexual relations with the woman when she was a minor and of witnessing the abuse of other minors.
On Thursday he said: "There is no more strenuous denial than the one I am giving. I never met her. I don't know her. I have never had sex with an underage person."
He added: "This person has made this up out of cloth, maliciously and knowingly in order to extort money from Mr Epstein."
Dershowitz challenged the woman to file criminal charges against him. He said he also planned to act swiftly to have her lawyers disbarred for unethical conduct.
“I know with 1 million per cent certainty that the story about me is made up,” he said. “I am squeaky clean and I will fight back because I have nothing to hide.”
Dershowitz said he could not comment on the woman's allegations against Prince Andrew or any other men, but he said her claims against him were demonstrably false and challenged her to file criminal charges against him.
"It is a totally fabricated charge in every possible way," he said. "It just never happened."
He said he was considering taking legal action to have Brad Edwards and Paul Cassell, the lawyers who filed the motion, disbarred for "knowingly filing … a false, malicious and defamatory statement in a lawsuit".
Edwards said: "We have been informed of Mr Dershowitz's threats of legal action and bar proceedings … we carefully investigate all of the allegations in our pleadings before presenting them."
This is the first time Andrew has been named in a court document as a participant in any sexual activity with one of the young women allegedly trafficked by Epstein.
Because the claim has only just been lodged, and as the duke is not a named party to it, he has not had the opportunity to formally file a defence or denial to the claims.
Fifth in line to the British throne, Andrew, 54, the second son of Queen Elizabeth II, was Britain’s Special Representative for International Trade and Investment for 10 years until 2011.
He is the ex-husband of Sarah Ferguson, 55, popularly known as Fergie. The couple, who have two children, divorced in 1996 but remain close friends.
With additional reporting from Agence France-Presse
