After his disastrous appearance on BBC Newsnight in November, we can understand why Prince Andrew would never want to give an interview ever again. But is he only making himself look more guilty?
That’s the position of attorney David Boies, who represents more than a dozen victims of Jeffrey Epstein. The billionaire pedophile and accused sex trafficker escaped justice in a way (whether it was his idea or not), but his associates seem to have escaped FULL STOP. Since Epstein’s death last Summer the case seems to have mostly gone cold, and a big part of that is witnesses like Andrew apparently ducking the system!
Related: Meghan Markle Loses First Round In Privacy Lawsuit
Boies told DailyMail.com over the weekend he has tried to get the Duke of York to give him an interview under oath but so far Andrew has apparently “not been prepared to co-operate.” The lawyer explained:
“We’ve made at least three formal written attempts sent to his address in London and also to his lawyers in the past few months.”
Prince Andrew has been accused by of participating in Epstein’s alleged sex trafficking ring, by at the very least of being a recipient of sex with a then-17-year-old Virginia Giuffre Roberts.
In his damning TV interview he explained why he couldn’t have done it — a defense which consisted of both a bizarre claim of a temporary physical ailment which prevented him from sweating and an insinuation Roberts doctored the infamous photograph in which he had his arm around her. It’s probably the most guilty he could have looked, save actually saying he would have gotten away with it if it weren’t for Scooby-Doo and his gang.
But Boies says he considers refusing to give an interview to the lawyer of the alleged victims maybe even worse:
“Often people in his position are surrounded by advisers who sometimes think that they will be more valued if they come across as very aggressive on their principal’s behalf and that can lead to somebody not getting very good advice.”
In this case the lawyer is Clare Montgomery, one of the UK’s top barristers dealing with extradition cases. Her clients include Nirav Modi, whom India has been trying to extradite to put on trial for his alleged role in a $2 billion bank fraud, and Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet.
Boies points out this isn’t the best look for a man who claims he’s completely innocent in all this:
“It’s not that I don’t appreciate why he wants to lawyer up — I do appreciate that. But if he could step back and look down the road and focus on what’s the endgame. If I avoid extradition, do I really want to have this hanging over my head and my family’s head for the rest of my life? Do I want my epitaph to be I succeeded in escaping justice?”
A friend of Andrew’s responded to all this, saying to The Telegraph:
“A request from a commercial law firm is not and never will be the same as an official judicial process. No decent legal team would ever recommend cooperating with for-profit civil lawyers. These very same law firms would do well to focus on the DOJ investigation and work harder to secure justice for the survivors of Epstein.”
Except… Prince Andrew is also apparently dodging interviews with the Department of Justice. US Attorney Geoffrey Berman said in January the Duke was refusing to answer questions in the official investigation, despite saying during his resignation from Royal duties that he would cooperate fully!
Now that is a bad look!
[Image via BBC2/WENN/New York State Division of Criminal Justice.]
Related Posts
-
Categories
