Federal prosecutors said they still want to interview Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime friend Prince Andrew after the Thursday arrest of the deceased financier and convicted sex offender’s longtime associate, Ghislaine Maxwell.
Audrey Strauss, the acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said during a Thursday press conference that “this case against Ghislaine Maxwell is the prequel to the case that we previously brought against Jeffrey Epstein.” The federal prosecutor, who took over for U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman in June, said that “these charges are the latest … in our investigation into Epstein and those around him” and said the investigation into any further co-conspirators “remains ongoing.”
She said that the Southern District of New York and the FBI were “committed” to continuing the investigation.
“We would welcome Prince Andrew coming in to talk with us. We would like the benefit of his statement,” Strauss said, adding, “Our doors remain open, and we would welcome him coming in and giving him an opportunity to hear his statement.”
Maxwell, a 58-year-old British socialite, was arrested by the FBI in New Hampshire and is expected to appear in federal court on Thursday. Epstein, a registered sex offender, was arrested in July 2019 on federal sex trafficking and conspiracy charges for allegedly abusing girls as young as 14. The 66-year-old was found dead in his Manhattan prison cell in August, which the New York City medical examiner determined to be a suicide.
The arrest warrant and 18-page grand jury indictment against Maxwell revealed that she had been charged with conspiracy to entice minors, enticement of a minor, conspiracy to transport minors, transportation of a minor, and perjury.
The Justice Department invoked a legal cooperation treaty with the United Kingdom earlier this year as it seeks an interview with Andrew about Epstein. The two had been friends since the late 1990s. Justice Department lawyers cited the 1994 mutual legal assistance treaty between the United States and the U.K. as they seek to compel an interview or sworn testimony from the Duke of York.
Virginia Giuffre, now 36, alleges Epstein and Maxwell helped exploit her when she was underage and accused the prince of forcing her to have sex with him at Maxwell’s home in London and at Epstein’s homes in New York and the U.S. Virgin Islands when she was 17. Both Epstein and Andrew were longtime friends of Maxwell.
“He knows exactly what he’s done,” Giuffre said on the steps of a Manhattan courthouse in August. “And I hope he comes clean about it.”
Andrew’s team claimed last month that he was willing to talk, but also criticized the Justice Department. His legal team told CNN they “will not be commenting” on Maxwell’s arrest.
Andrew has insisted in August that he first met Epstein in 1999. Flight logs showed that the prince’s ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, with whom he has remained close, and their two daughters were with Epstein in the Bahamas in April 1998. The prince also said he was “at a loss to be able to understand or explain” his dead friend’s “lifestyle.” But he downplayed his closeness with Epstein, referring to their relationship as a “former association or friendship.” He claimed to be in the dark about any of Epstein’s alleged sex crimes involving underage girls despite a friendship spanning well over a decade, repeated visits to and stays at Epstein’s various homes, and flights on Epstein’s planes.
Strauss told reporters on Thursday that Maxwell had been arrested in the morning in Bradford, New Hampshire, and that she was appearing before a magistrate judge in New Hampshire on Thursday afternoon.
“The charges set forth herein stem from the role of Ghislaine Maxwell, the defendant, in the sexual exploitation and abuse of multiple minor girls by Jeffrey Epstein,” the Southern District of New York grand jury concluded. “In particular, from at least in or about 1994, up to and including in or about 1997, Maxwell assisted, facilitated, and contributed to Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse of minor girls by, and among other things, helping Epstein to recruit, groom, and ultimately abuse victims known to Maxwell and Epstein to be under the age of 18.”
“Maxwell compounded her crimes by repeatedly lying in 2016 when she was under oath,” Strauss said. “Maxwell lied because the truth, as alleged, was almost unspeakable.”
“Maxwell enticed minor girls, got them to trust her, then delivered them into the trap that Epstein and herself had set for them,” she said, adding, “Today, after many years, Ghislaine Maxwell finally stands charged for her role in these crimes.”
The charging document said that “as a part and in furtherance of their scheme to abuse minor victims,” Maxwell and Epstein “enticed and caused minor victims to travel to Epstein’s residences in different states” — including Epstein’s New York City mansion, his Palm Beach estate, his New Mexico ranch, and Maxwell’s London apartment — which Maxwell “knew and intended would result in their grooming for and subjection to sexual abuse” by Epstein.
“Maxwell was among Epstein’s associates and helped him exploit girls who were as young as fourteen years old,” Strauss said.
“Maxwell then tried to normalize the sexual abuse with the underage victims through a process known as grooming,” she continued. “Maxwell’s presence as an adult woman helped put the minor victims at ease.” The prosecutor added: “In some cases, Maxwell participated in the abuse herself.”
“To anyone who is watching … if you believe you are a victim of Jeffrey Epstein or Ghislaine Maxwell … please let us know,” she said.
“Today, we announced the arrest of one of the villains of this investigation,” said William Sweeney, the assistant director-in-charge of the FBI.
“We have discretely been monitoring her whereabouts” for months and that Maxwell “slithered away to a gorgeous property” in New Hampshire where she was “continuing to live a life of privilege,” Sweeney said. He also praised the victims who had the bravery to step forward.
“We know that your quest for justice has been met with great disappointment,” Sweeney said. “I would like to thank you for the trust that you put in our investigative teams as we work to hold the adult.”
Sweeney said the victims of Epstein and Maxwell had “persevered against the rich and protected.”
