Epstein case: for American justice, Prince Andrew pretends to want to cooperate

Prince Andrew would not be in such a hurry to give the American justice its version of the facts in the Epstein case. Attorneys for the Duke of York said Monday that he had offered "at least three times" to testify in the sexual assault case that plagues the British monarchy, but the Manhattan federal prosecutor accused him of pretending.

The second son of Queen Elizabeth II, 60, has been asked for months to explain what he knew about the activities of his wealthy American friend, found hanged in his cell in August 2019, after being accused of having sexually exploited underage girls. His defense released a lengthy update on Monday after reports by tabloid The Sun and American media said that US justice had seized British authorities to compel him to testify.

"The Duke of York offered at least three times his assistance as a witness to the Department of Justice" (DoJ), his lawyers said. "Unfortunately, the DoJ reacted to our first two proposals by violating their own rules of confidentiality" by asserting that it had not cooperated, they deplored, accusing the department of "perhaps wanting to seek publicity rather than to accept the assistance offered ”.

No question of extradition

But Manhattan federal prosecutor Geoffrey Berman, in charge of the investigation, said in a tweet that the prince presented himself "falsely to the public as being anxious to cooperate in the investigation [...]" when he had "several once refused to schedule an interview with the American authorities "and that he had informed them" clearly almost four months ago that he would not go to such an interview ".

These exchanges can only fuel the suspicions surrounding the prince, in this resounding affair which has been poisoning the British crown for ten months. Justice Minister William Barr said Monday, however, that there was no question of extraditing the Queen's son to the United States. "I think it is just a matter of him providing information, but I will not comment further," said the minister on Fox News.

The prince's descent into hell began in August 2019 with the publication in the United States of court documents. A woman, Virginia Roberts, claims to have had sexual relations with the prince there on three occasions, to which Epstein would have forced her, when she was 17 years old. The Duke of York has always denied these allegations.

A catastrophic media defense

The publication of a photo, showing Virginia Roberts at that time entwined by the prince, did the rest, as well as another photograph showing the prince walking in New York with the financier even when the latter had already was convicted and imprisoned for prostitution in 2008.

To defend himself, Prince Andrew gave a long interview to the BBC in November, which turned into a fiasco because he showed no regrets and seemed to lack empathy for the victims. Gradually dropped by the companies and associations with which he worked, he finally announced in November 2019 his withdrawal from public life and is now discreet.

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The one who is said to be the queen's favorite son has already made unflattering headlines in the past, for his lifestyle assimilating him to a playboy and his tumultuous loves. But this time, the matter is more serious and plunges the British monarchy already shaken by the withdrawal of the royal family from Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, who left for California.