PRINCE Andrew has been condemned to a “life of ridicule” due to his $16 million settlement with sex abuse accuser Virginia Giuffre, the lawyer who helped bring down Jeffrey Epstein told The Celeb Report.
Florida-based attorney Bradley Edwards described the Duke of York as “stupid” for maintaining contact with Epstein even after he became a convicted sex offender in 2008.
Mr Edwards – who represents 69 Epstein victims and was key in getting the financier jailed before his suicide in 2019 – was speaking publicly for the first time about the deal Andrew struck with Ms Giuffre in February.
It comes after it was revealed the disgraced 62-year-old royal would not be on the balcony of Buckingham Palace for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations in June.
Andrew has not publicly admitted any wrongdoing as part of the deal and has always denied the allegations.
Mr Edwards exclusively told The Celeb Report: “I think Andrew’s going to have to live a life of ridicule for a long time.
“How stupid can you possibly be to remain friends with Jeffrey Epstein after he was labeled a sex offender and he came out of jail? Have you lost your mind?
“I imagine the Queen has bent him over her knee a couple of times.
“He paid a lot of money to settle a case and try to make up for what he allegedly did many years ago.
“I just wish that in the process, Virginia didn’t have to take the media hit that she did because he was trying to cover his own butt.
“He should have just accepted responsibility and moved on.
“A lot of people would hope that the Queen had banished him, but if your own mom’s not going to love you then nobody will.”
Mr Edwards was speaking at the Crimecon convention in Las Vegas before it was confirmed Andrew would not be seen waving from the palace balcony next month with the rest of the family.
Andrew had already stepped away from royal duties before he settled with his accuser Ms Giuffre for an amount believed to be over $16 million.
The decision came after his disastrous BBC interview about his friendship with Epstein in November 2019.
Buckingham Palace said this week the Queen had decided appearances on the balcony for the Jubilee celebrations would be limited to “working royals” only.
Meanwhile Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle were confirmed to be travelling to the UK with their son Archie, three and daughter Lilibet, 11 months, for the celebrations but will not be on the balcony either.
In her New York lawsuit against Andrew, Ms Giuffre accused the Duke of sexually abusing her when she was under 18.
She claimed the abuse took place at Epstein’s mansion in Manhattan, on his private island in the US Virgin Islands and at now-convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell’s home in London.
‘RELENTLESS PURSUIT’
Mr Edwards played a central role in the downfall of Epstein, who was found dead in his jail cell after being arrested in 2019.
The former prosecutor spent over a decade going after Epstein, a wild rollercoaster experience he wrote about in his book “Relentless Pursuit: My Fight for the Victims of Jeffrey Epstein”.
He first became involved with the case in 2008 when he was approached by Epstein victim Courtney Wild.
She left him shocked when she told him her story of having been sexually abused at 14 by a wealthy Palm Beach man called Jeffrey Epstein.
It was through her case that Mr Edwards uncovered Epstein’s “sweetheart deal” with prosecutors.
As part of his 2008 guilty plea to soliciting an underage prostitute Epstein was guaranteed he would not face federal charges.
The pact was concluded in secret and without telling victims by then US Attorney for Southern Florida and later Trump secretary of labor Alexander Acosta.
By challenging that decision in the courts, Mr Edwards and Ms Wild helped expose Epstein and the web of corruption around him.
Mr Edwards says that during their 12-year face-off Epstein wound up threatening him with talk of his “friends in high places” and placing his family under surveillance.
But eventually it was Mr Edwards who had the last laugh at Epstein’s expense.
When Epstein was arrested again on federal sex trafficking charges in July 2019, Mr Edwards travelled with his client Ms Wild to the bail hearing.
She then gave crucial, compelling testimony to US District Judge Richard M. Berman, warning he should not let Epstein go.
Clearly moved, Judge Berman decided to confine the deviant sex criminal mastermind with the unbeatable connections.
Sending him to the jail where he would die, Judge Berman wrote: “Mr Epstein’s dangerousness is considerable and includes sex crimes with minor girls and tampering with potential witnesses.”
The following month Epstein was found hanged in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan.
The Celeb Report reached out to a spokeswoman for Andrew asking for comment.
