UK’s embattled Prince Andrew is said to be “totally tormented” as he prepares himself to face the scandal over his links to infamous US financier Jeffrey Epstein who killed himself in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex crimes.
The Duke of York’s name will appear alongside those of scores of Epstein’s powerful friends when a tranche of US court documents are published, UK’s Daily Mail reported on Sunday. The prospect of once again facing scrutiny over his ties with Epstein is said to have left Andrew in despair ahead of Christmas, which he is expected to spend with King Charles in Sandringham.
“Andrew’s name is in there,” one source told Daily Mail. “He is beside himself with this latest development and everyone close to him is concerned for his mental wellbeing.” “He is at a loss, totally tormented. He is facing his second Christmas without his mother and now the New Year is going to start with his name being dragged through the mud all over again.”
Earlier this week, a US judge ordered a New York court to reveal the names of 180 people — including victims, associates and suspected accomplices, tied to Epstein. The judicial order is part of a defamation proceeding between Epstein’s former mistress, Ghislaine Maxwell, sentenced in 2022 to 20 years in prison, and a plaintiff against the duo, Virginia Giuffre.
The judge listed in a 50-page document the cases of some 180 people ordering that their identities be made public within 14 days of the order, the first days of January. According to British media, Giuffre’s defamation claim against Maxwell dates back to 2016 and was settled the following year. But the Miami Herald then took legal action to access the file and investigate the Epstein network.
Maxwell and Epstein were a couple in the early 1990s before becoming professional collaborators and accomplices in sex crimes for almost three decades. Maxwell, 61, was convicted in December 2021 in New York of trafficking underage girls for sex with Epstein and sentenced in 2022 to a 20-year prison term. Epstein, a financier with a powerful network in the US and abroad, was himself accused of raping young girls, but his suicide by hanging in a New York prison in August 2019 halted his prosecution.
(With agency inputs)
Comments
0 comment