A suspected victim in the abuse scandal surrounding the late US multimillionaire Jeffrey Epstein has renewed his allegations against British Prince Andrew. US citizen Virginia Giuffre says she was forced to sex with Prince Andrew at the age of 17 in 2001 and 2002. She confirmed that, according to the BBC in an interview with the British broadcaster, which will be broadcast on Monday in a special broadcast. Prince Andrew denies the allegations.
"He knows what happened, I know what happened, and there is only one of us who tells the truth," says Giuffre in the interview. It was a really scary time in her life.
"He knows what happened, I know what happened and there's just one of the telling of the truth."
The Prince and the Epstein Scandal | @BBCOne | Monday 2nd December, 9 pm #BBCPanorama pic.twitter.com/tMIwWBztRR
Prince Andrew states that he does not remember Giuffre, then called Roberts. He also does not want to recognize a photo showing the Queen's second eldest son and teenager in the home of British Epstein girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell in London.
Because of his connection to Epstein Prince Andrew is currently under pressure. The US multimillionaire had committed suicide in a New York prison in early August. He was accused of abusing and forcing dozens of minors into prostitution.
Prince Andrew was friends with Epstein for many years and also spent the night in his estate. Nevertheless, the 59-year-old wants to have heard nothing of the abuse cases. In a BBC interview in mid-November he tried to justify himself. But his explanations were widely perceived as untrustworthy. He was also accused of not expressing sympathy for the Epstein victims.
The pressure on the prince then rose enormously. More and more sponsors withdrew their support for projects that supported Andrew as a patron. He eventually drew first consequences and put down for the time being all tasks for the royal family. (Read a comment on the retreat of Prince Andrew here.) He also promised to help "all the investigative authorities." US victim lawyers called on the prince to testify under civil oath.
Scotland Yard announced Thursday that it was using a sex trafficking complaint against Epstein and that a British woman will not be prosecuted. Most of the alleged offenses occurred outside the UK. Therefore, the authority was not responsible. According to the BBC, Giuffre had filed the complaint.