PRINCE Andrew is being “protected” by Buckingham Palace over Jeffrey Epstein sex claims according to a US prosecutor.
Geoff Berman, the former top prosecutor in New York, has accused the British establishment of “protecting” the Duke of York when inquiring into Jeffrey Epstein.
Prince Andrew is being “protected” by Buckingham Palace over Jeffrey Epstein sex claims according to Geoff Berman
The Duke of York has been out in public at the Queen’s mourning events
Mr Berman, the former US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, blasted Buckingham Palace as “not helpful”.
And he added that said Andrew’s lawyers gave him the “run-around” in a bombshell memoir published just days before the Queen’s funeral.
Mr Berman said he got “absolutely nowhere” with his efforts to bring Andrew to justice over his links to the paedophile financier.
The former US Attorney claims that Scotland Yard did not help when he formally requested assistance even though they were normally cooperative.
And he said he came to the conclusion that “someone” was rebuffing his efforts to save Andrew from having to answer questions about allegedly having sex with a 17-year-old Epstein victim.
The timing of Mr Berman’s account could complicate the already thorny arrangements for Andrew’s role in his mother’s funeral on Monday.
The Duke of York “stepped back” from royal duties over his links to convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
But Prince Andrew has been out in public at the Queen’s mourning events this week and is reportedly set to have a “central role” during his mother’s funeral.
He walked behind the Queen’s coffin yesterday in a morning suit after being banned from wearing military uniform.
The 62-year-old stood out in his attire while his siblings, led by King Charles III, donned military dress.
They followed Her Majesty’s coffin from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to nearby St Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh yesterday afternoon.
The Duke of York has joined King Charles III, Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, as well as the Prince and Princess of Wales at the royal residence.
The Queen’s funeral is set to take place on September 19, and will be one of the most memorable events in Brit history.
All working royals will wear their military attire, but Andrew – who was stripped of his military titles last year – is expected to don a normal suit once more.
However, the Duke of York is being permitted to wear military dress at the vigil at the lying-in-state, as a “special mark of respect” for the Queen.
The Duke’s battle with Mr Berman began in November 2019 when Andrew said he would cooperate with law enforcement in his interview with the BBC.
Mr Berman was in office until June 2020 when he was fired by Donald Trump.
Epstein was arrested in August that year and Andrew was under fire over claims from Virginia Giuffre that she was trafficked to him three times for sex when she was 17.
Back in February, Prince Andrew paid a multi-million-pound settlement to Virginia over sexual abuse allegations.
Andrew has repeatedly denied all allegations of wrongdoing.
But Mr Berman writes that he quickly became frustrated after he asked two of his prosecutors to contact Andrew’s people to set up an interview.
They spent “two weeks just trying to find out who his lawyers were”, Mr Berman says in “Holding the Line: Inside the Nation’s Preeminent US Attorney’s Office and Its Battle with the Trump Justice Department”.
He writes: “We tried calling Buckingham Palace and they were not helpful.
“We tried the Department of Justice attaché and the State Department, no luck. When we finally got his lawyers, they had all these questions.
“What kind of interview will it be? Are there any protections? Is there this? Is there that? And we kept answering, and all that led to further questions and they’re saying you know: ‘We’ll consider it’.”
Mr Berman wrote that it was an “endless email exchange and it was clear we were getting the run-around”.
In January 2020 Mr Berman said in a press conference outside Epstein’s mansion that Andrew had given “zero cooperation” in the investigation.
Mr Berman’s comments brought Andrew’s lawyers “to the table again”.
He added: “But it was more of the same. Repetitive emails back and forth with no commitment on his part.
“We said that if they are serious about cooperating just name the time and place and we will be there. The lawyers never did’.”
Mr Berman says they were “getting nowhere” so decided to “compel” Andrew to speak with them by seeking an MLAT request through the State Department.
MLAT stands for “mutual legal assistance treaty” and is an agreement between countries to help each other in criminal investigations.
Mr Berman writes that because of his “very good relations” with Scotland Yard they “almost always got what we asked” with an MLAT request.
He writes: “But that’s not what happened with Prince Andrew. We got absolutely nowhere. Were they protecting him? I assume someone was.”
A war of words escalated between both sides and Andrew’s lawyers accused Mr Berman of “seeking publicity rather than accepting the assistance proffered” in a June 2020 statement.
Mr Berman writes: “Just to be clear. There was no assistance proffered. The prince offered to send us some kind of written statement but that’s not how we do investigations, even for British royals.
“Prince Andrew clearly knew Epstein and Maxwell. He was on (Epstein’s Caribbean) island. He was at the mansion in New York. He was in London.
“We had a lot of questions for him and as of the day I was fired, those questions remained unanswered.”
According to Mr Berman, then US Attorney General Bill Barr phoned him after he made his “zero cooperation” remarks to congratulate him.
Mr Barr supposedly said: “I really liked your comments on Prince Andrew. Could you keep it up?”
A spokeswoman for Andrew declined to comment.
Prince Andrew paid a multi-million-pound settlement to Virginia over sexual abuse allegations in February
