A year ago, Prince Andrew, the third son of Elizabeth II and eighth in the line of succession to the throne after Prince Charles and his children and grandchildren, fell from grace and became an outcast for the British royal family.
He had to put aside his foundations and activities within the Windsors.
A year after his public withdrawal, from that famous BBC interview from Buckingham Palace where he was more opaque than clear and where he tried to get away, unsuccessfully, from his friend, the pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, who had committed suicide in jail that summer of 2019, the prince continues to flee from the American justice with which he promised to collaborate.
This is now highlighted by the lawyer representing six of the victims of Epstein's sexual assaults, Lisa Bloom, who asked him at the time to testify and now again demands it outright.
Bloom now calls on Prince Andrew to collaborate with the FBI in the investigation, something that becomes even more important by the future statement of Ghislaine Maxwell, considered the
Madame
de Epstein, who was arrested last July and who will be questioned in a trial in the summer of 2021.
"It is intolerable that a year has passed since Prince Andrew publicly promised to cooperate with the forces of order that are investigating all those hundreds of women and girls who have suffered the sexual assaults of Jeffrey Epstein", has publicly lamented Lisa Bloom , as reported in the
Daily Mail
newspaper
.
“He just hasn't kept his promise.
Meanwhile, the six victims I represent are struggling to try to fix their lives, ”cries Bloom.
“We implore Prince Andrew to grant an interview with the FBI inspectors who are conducting the investigation of Ghislaine Maxwell and other accused conspirators, to tell what he knows, to show documents and evidence, and to instruct his staff to do the same ”, argues Bloom, who states:“ It is never too late to do the right thing ”.
Despite the fact that in that BBC interview in November 2019 the Duke of York explained that he had never suspected of his friend's criminal activities, he did try to show that he would collaborate with justice, that never happened.
In fact, the UK police then reiterated their position that he would not be investigated in their country.
In addition, he confirmed that almost five years ago, in July 2015, he received a complaint for "not recent" crimes against Epstein and a British woman, but considers that the case is "mainly focused on activities and relationships outside the United Kingdom".
Already last January, more than 10 months ago, it was learned that the prince was offering no help in the investigation of the case, despite the fact that both the FBI and the New York prosecutor's office had asked to question him.
At the time, New York's Southern District Attorney Geoffrey Berman claimed that “up to that point” Prince Andrew had provided zero cooperation, ”as he announced in a press conference he gave in front of Epstein's mansion on the Upper East Side, one of the most luxurious and largest in all of Manhattan.
As Berman confirmed then, the FBI had tried to interview Prince Andrew in connection with the investigation into the activities and death of Epstein, but he refused, although from Buckingham Palace they did not comment on that point.
In addition, this past June the tabloid
The Sun
announced that the US Department of Justice had sent the UK Home Office a request for Mutual Legal Assistance (a so-called MLA, in its acronym in English) to force the collaboration of the son of Elizabeth II in the research on Epstein.
This MLA is considered an intermediate step between normal police cooperation and the extradition request.
If it were to succeed, that could mean that Andrés would appear before a British court and that he would have to answer to the prosecution, but so far it has not happened.
Then, the team of lawyers of the eighth in the line of succession to the throne assured that they came to offer "up to three times" cooperation with the US authorities.
"Unfortunately, the Department of Justice responded to the first two offers by breaking its own confidentiality rules and ensuring that the duke had provided 'zero cooperation," the text said, referring to that appearance by prosecutor Berman.
"By doing that, they gave the impression of seeking publicity rather than accepting the help offered," they claimed.
With those words, the lawyers did not go so far as to specify whether the communication with the US prosecutor was a simple a formalism to avoid problems or if the Duke of York was really willing to facilitate the progress of the investigation, something that does not seem that will happen.