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Prince Andrew Accused of Sex With Minor in American Lawsuit
Prince Andrew, Duke of York, is a member of British royalty and currently fifth in the line of succession to the throne. He’s the third child of Queen Elizabeth II, and has long been the source of frustration for the royals. His actions regularly provide fodder for the tabloids, but the most recent scandal involving the Prince may go further than just making the royal family look bad. He was just named in a lawsuit filed in Florida that alleges he had sex with an underage girl.
Prince Andrew really has been a familiar face in the tabloids. His relationship with ex-wife Sarah Ferguson has faced plenty of scandal–especially when her constant debt problems are taken into account. At one point he was accused of accepting a gift from a Libyan gun smuggler. He took a $5,000 helicopter ride for 50 miles. He’s been tied to shady people multiple times, including the corrupt president of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev.
But one particularly dark mark on Prince Andrew’s biography has been his friendship with American businessman Jeffrey Epstein, who pleaded guilty to soliciting sex from an underage girl in 2008. The FBI allegedly linked him to about 40 other young women, many of whom were minors. In 2011, Epstein’s friendship with the Prince came under scrutiny after the media took pictures of the men together. There were many rumors that Prince Andrew was involved in inappropriate behavior at Epstein’s house. A 2011 Vanity Fair article stated:
According to a sworn deposition by Juan Alessi, a former employee at Epstein’s Palm Beach estate, Andrew attended naked pool parties and was treated to massages by a harem of adolescent girls.
There were also rumors that Prince Andrew had sexual contact with an underage girl who had been groomed as a prostitute by Epstein. The girl in question was 17 years old at the time and now lives in Australia. She claims to have been sexually exploited by Epstein beginning at the age of 15.
While there is a lot still unclear about Prince Andrew’s involvement with Epstein’s victims, what we do know is that there is now a civil suit against the United States government with regard to the way that federal prosecutors handled Epstein’s case. The suit argues that when the Florida prosecutors worked out a plea deal with Epstein, they violated victims’ rights laws by not talking to Epstein’s victims about the deal. Those victims’ lawyers claim that Epstein got an easy deal from the prosecution–pleading guilty to just one charge–because of his wealth and connections.
It is within the parameters of this lawsuit that Prince Andrew was named, after two of Epstein’s other victims joined the two who originally filed the suit. It’s important to note that no legal action is being taken against Prince Andrew, rather this suit just names him as part of the plaintiffs’ collection of evidence that Epstein basically organized a sex trafficking ring of underage women for his wealthy friends. He has denied the allegations.
Prince Andrew wasn’t the only famous man mentioned in these court documents. Alan Dershowitz, a well known, former Harvard Law professor and criminal defense attorney, was also named. He has also completely denied the allegations, saying:
I’m planning to file disbarment charges against the two lawyers who signed this petition without even checking the manifests of airplanes or travel itineraries, et cetera. I’m also challenging the young woman and the lawyers to level those charges against me outside of the courtroom, so that I can sue them for defamation…Finally, I’m challenging the woman to file criminal charges against me because the filing of false criminal charges is a crime.
This case is still ongoing. It will be interesting to see if Dershowitz follows through on his legal threats, or if Prince Andrew ends up playing a larger part. For right now though, it’s only the U.S. government that is facing legal action for its handling of the case.
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