Prince Andrew faces further embarrassment from the Jeffrey Epstein scandal after a judge ordered thousands of secret documents relating to an alleged “sex slave” of the tycoon to be released.
About 2,000 files from a defamation case involving Virginia Roberts, an alleged trafficking victim, are due to be unsealed following a ruling by the US court of appeal this month. Roberts claims she was forced by Epstein to have sex with the Duke of York in London, New York and the Caribbean. Prince Andrew has strongly denied the claims.
In 2015 Roberts, now 35 and a mother of three, claimed she had been recruited as a “sex slave” by Epstein, a billionaire financier who was charged last week with trafficking girls as young as 14. Roberts alleged that she had been “procured for sexual activities” by Ghislaine Maxwell, who worked as a personal aide to Epstein and had been a friend of the duke.
In 2001 Roberts, then aged 17, was photographed in Maxwell’s London flat with Andrew’s arm around her waist. A judge later threw out her allegations against Andrew because they were “immaterial and impertinent to the central claim” against Epstein.
Maxwell gave an interview in 2015 calling Roberts a “liar”. Roberts then sued Maxwell for defamation in the US and the case was settled. Most of the court documents remained under seal following legal representations from Maxwell, who is a daughter of the late disgraced media tycoon Robert Maxwell.
In a ruling this month, Jose Cabranes, a US appeals judge, said the public’s right to know outweighed the privacy rights of people who wanted to keep secrets. Days later Epstein, 66, was charged in New York with trafficking a “vast network of underage victims” between his homes in Manhattan and Palm Beach, Florida. Epstein denies the charges.
Last weekend FBI agents found thousands of graphic photos, many of underage girls, and a safe filled with CDs labelled “nude girls” during a raid on Epstein’s £60m Manhattan house.
The charges have raised questions about how Epstein avoided prosecution before. In 2008 he negotiated a secret plea on similar accusations in a separate case in Florida. The Sunday Times later revealed that the deal, which allowed Epstein to avoid sex-trafficking charges, had also handed his associates immunity from prosecution.
Alexander Acosta, a former federal prosecutor in Florida, negotiated the deal. On Friday he resigned as Donald Trump’s labour secretary amid criticism of his handling of the case.
Andrew is not the only illustrious acquaintance to be embarrassed. Trump described Epstein as a friend in 2002, adding: “He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.” Bill and Hillary Clinton are also known to have been associates.
However, none of the investment banker’s friendships has raised more eyebrows than his relationship with Andrew. Epstein attended the Queen’s birthday party in 2000 and visited Sandringham, Balmoral and Windsor Castle.
Andrew’s ex-wife, the Duchess of York, accepted £15,000 from Epstein in 2010 to help her pay off debts. She later apologised. By that time, Epstein was a convicted sex offender. Yet the same year Epstein and Andrew were photographed walking through New York’s Central Park together. The duke was later dropped as UK trade ambassador. Prince Andrew and Epstein in 2010
When Roberts made her claims in 2015, the duke issued a strong denial, with Buckingham Palace saying “any suggestion of impropriety with underage minors is categorically untrue”.
Roberts claimed that she had been “forced” by Epstein to have sex with the duke in London, in Epstein’s New York mansion and on Epstein’s private island in the US Virgin Islands.
Public records and flight logs for the black Gulfstream jet owned by Epstein, obtained by this newspaper, suggest Andrew was in the same place as Roberts on the three occasions she claims they had sex. Roberts went on a six-day tour of Europe before reaching London on March 9, 2001. The photograph of Roberts with the duke is dated March 2001.
One month later, on April 9, the court circular records that Andrew began an official visit to the US. The same day Roberts flew from Palm Beach to New Jersey. According to Roberts, it was around this time that she was ordered to Epstein’s mansion in New York where she allegedly had sex with Andrew on a massage table. Flight logs show that Roberts and Epstein left New York on April 11 for St Thomas in the US Virgin Islands.
Roberts alleges that she had sex with Andrew on Epstein’s island. Gwendolyn Beck, a financial adviser who knew Epstein and Andrew, said Andrew spent two nights on the island at that time. “He was in the bungalow next to me,” she said. Andrew arrived in the Bahamas on April 15 to join a holiday with his ex-wife and their daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, then aged 12 and 11.
The palace said yesterday: “It is emphatically denied that [Andrew] had any form of sexual contact or relationship with Virginia Roberts. Any claim to the contrary is false.”
The furore is bad timing for Andrew, who is due to attend the cricket World Cup final between England and New Zealand at Lord’s today. He will present the trophy on behalf of the Queen.
The US prosecution is being handled by New York’s public corruption unit. Barbara McQuade, a former US attorney, said: “It seems unusual to me that the public corruption unit would be investigating this case. That unit typically handles cases involving public officials. If Epstein were protecting any potential co-conspirators during his negotiations with Acosta, the public corruption prosecutors now have the leverage to find out.”
A troubling friendship
2001 Virginia Roberts, an alleged “sex slave” of Jeffrey Epstein, is pictured with the billionaire financier’s friend Prince Andrew in London aged 17
2005 Florida police uncover multiple allegations of child sexual abuse involving Epstein
2008 Epstein agrees a deal with prosecutors. He avoids federal charges, pleads guilty to prostitution offences and serves 13 months
2010 Andrew is pictured with Epstein in New York
2015 Roberts alleges that Epstein groomed her from the age of 15 and that she was on three occasions forced to have sex with Andrew — which he denies
2018 Investigation by the Miami Herald reignites interest in the case
2019 Epstein is charged in New York with running a child trafficking network. Judge orders the unsealing of documents relating to the Roberts defamation claim.
https://www.voat.co/v/QRV/3321373 'This woman is his pimp. She pilots planes to and from the island. I know because she told me. She is a sex trafficker.'
https://www.voat.co/v/QRV/3323474 See names? Many names....Michael Liffman California real estate, Chris Tucker, Nada Marcinkova, Ryan Dionne, Eva Andersson? GeraldineLaybourne Nickelodeon, Gwendolyn Beck, Peter Marino Leather guy?
19820261? ago
We Mainstream Now Boys! US judge unseals files in case of girl, 17, 'forced to have sex with Prince Andrew'
https://www.voat.co/v/QRV/3333739/19737075
Prince Andrew faces further embarrassment from the Jeffrey Epstein scandal after a judge ordered thousands of secret documents relating to an alleged “sex slave” of the tycoon to be released.
About 2,000 files from a defamation case involving Virginia Roberts, an alleged trafficking victim, are due to be unsealed following a ruling by the US court of appeal this month. Roberts claims she was forced by Epstein to have sex with the Duke of York in London, New York and the Caribbean. Prince Andrew has strongly denied the claims.
In 2015 Roberts, now 35 and a mother of three, claimed she had been recruited as a “sex slave” by Epstein, a billionaire financier who was charged last week with trafficking girls as young as 14. Roberts alleged that she had been “procured for sexual activities” by Ghislaine Maxwell, who worked as a personal aide to Epstein and had been a friend of the duke.
In 2001 Roberts, then aged 17, was photographed in Maxwell’s London flat with Andrew’s arm around her waist. A judge later threw out her allegations against Andrew because they were “immaterial and impertinent to the central claim” against Epstein.
Maxwell gave an interview in 2015 calling Roberts a “liar”. Roberts then sued Maxwell for defamation in the US and the case was settled. Most of the court documents remained under seal following legal representations from Maxwell, who is a daughter of the late disgraced media tycoon Robert Maxwell.
In a ruling this month, Jose Cabranes, a US appeals judge, said the public’s right to know outweighed the privacy rights of people who wanted to keep secrets. Days later Epstein, 66, was charged in New York with trafficking a “vast network of underage victims” between his homes in Manhattan and Palm Beach, Florida. Epstein denies the charges.
Last weekend FBI agents found thousands of graphic photos, many of underage girls, and a safe filled with CDs labelled “nude girls” during a raid on Epstein’s £60m Manhattan house.
The charges have raised questions about how Epstein avoided prosecution before. In 2008 he negotiated a secret plea on similar accusations in a separate case in Florida. The Sunday Times later revealed that the deal, which allowed Epstein to avoid sex-trafficking charges, had also handed his associates immunity from prosecution.
Alexander Acosta, a former federal prosecutor in Florida, negotiated the deal. On Friday he resigned as Donald Trump’s labour secretary amid criticism of his handling of the case.
Andrew is not the only illustrious acquaintance to be embarrassed. Trump described Epstein as a friend in 2002, adding: “He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.” Bill and Hillary Clinton are also known to have been associates.
However, none of the investment banker’s friendships has raised more eyebrows than his relationship with Andrew. Epstein attended the Queen’s birthday party in 2000 and visited Sandringham, Balmoral and Windsor Castle.
Andrew’s ex-wife, the Duchess of York, accepted £15,000 from Epstein in 2010 to help her pay off debts. She later apologised. By that time, Epstein was a convicted sex offender. Yet the same year Epstein and Andrew were photographed walking through New York’s Central Park together. The duke was later dropped as UK trade ambassador. Prince Andrew and Epstein in 2010
When Roberts made her claims in 2015, the duke issued a strong denial, with Buckingham Palace saying “any suggestion of impropriety with underage minors is categorically untrue”.
Roberts claimed that she had been “forced” by Epstein to have sex with the duke in London, in Epstein’s New York mansion and on Epstein’s private island in the US Virgin Islands.
Public records and flight logs for the black Gulfstream jet owned by Epstein, obtained by this newspaper, suggest Andrew was in the same place as Roberts on the three occasions she claims they had sex. Roberts went on a six-day tour of Europe before reaching London on March 9, 2001. The photograph of Roberts with the duke is dated March 2001.
One month later, on April 9, the court circular records that Andrew began an official visit to the US. The same day Roberts flew from Palm Beach to New Jersey. According to Roberts, it was around this time that she was ordered to Epstein’s mansion in New York where she allegedly had sex with Andrew on a massage table. Flight logs show that Roberts and Epstein left New York on April 11 for St Thomas in the US Virgin Islands.
Roberts alleges that she had sex with Andrew on Epstein’s island. Gwendolyn Beck, a financial adviser who knew Epstein and Andrew, said Andrew spent two nights on the island at that time. “He was in the bungalow next to me,” she said. Andrew arrived in the Bahamas on April 15 to join a holiday with his ex-wife and their daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, then aged 12 and 11.
The palace said yesterday: “It is emphatically denied that [Andrew] had any form of sexual contact or relationship with Virginia Roberts. Any claim to the contrary is false.”
The furore is bad timing for Andrew, who is due to attend the cricket World Cup final between England and New Zealand at Lord’s today. He will present the trophy on behalf of the Queen.
The US prosecution is being handled by New York’s public corruption unit. Barbara McQuade, a former US attorney, said: “It seems unusual to me that the public corruption unit would be investigating this case. That unit typically handles cases involving public officials. If Epstein were protecting any potential co-conspirators during his negotiations with Acosta, the public corruption prosecutors now have the leverage to find out.”
A troubling friendship
2001 Virginia Roberts, an alleged “sex slave” of Jeffrey Epstein, is pictured with the billionaire financier’s friend Prince Andrew in London aged 17
2005 Florida police uncover multiple allegations of child sexual abuse involving Epstein
2008 Epstein agrees a deal with prosecutors. He avoids federal charges, pleads guilty to prostitution offences and serves 13 months
2010 Andrew is pictured with Epstein in New York
2015 Roberts alleges that Epstein groomed her from the age of 15 and that she was on three occasions forced to have sex with Andrew — which he denies
2018 Investigation by the Miami Herald reignites interest in the case
2019 Epstein is charged in New York with running a child trafficking network. Judge orders the unsealing of documents relating to the Roberts defamation claim.
19820098? ago
Epstein, DynCorp, and Islam https://voat.co/v/QRV/3343685
19824017? ago
https://www.voat.co/v/QRV/3321373 'This woman is his pimp. She pilots planes to and from the island. I know because she told me. She is a sex trafficker.'
19811297? ago
https://www.voat.co/v/QRV/3323474 See names? Many names....Michael Liffman California real estate, Chris Tucker, Nada Marcinkova, Ryan Dionne, Eva Andersson? GeraldineLaybourne Nickelodeon, Gwendolyn Beck, Peter Marino Leather guy?
19850816? ago
Freemasonry in a nutshell https://voat.co/v/QRV/3344099
19787940? ago
https://www.invidio.us/watch?v=0k-2JM3Kpo0 :
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