His legal team responds...

U.S. Prosecutors Call On Prince Andrew For Testimony In Jeffrey Epstein Investigation

New York prosecutors have requested Prince Andrew's testimony as a witness in the ongoing Jeffrey Epstein investigation. Read the conflicting statements that have since come out from his legal team and a U.S. attorney.

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On Monday, U.S. federal prosecutors officially requested to speak with Prince Andrew as part of the ongoing Epstein investigation. According to ABC News, the request is for the prince to offer testimony as a witness. He is not the target of this investigation, which centres on Epstein's alleged co-conspirators.

Following this news, Prince Andrew's legal team released a statement in response to reports that he's so far been uncooperative in the investigation.

The new statement, provided by the firm Blackfords LLP, reads:

"The Duke of York has on at least three occasions this year offered his assistance as a witness to the DOJ. Unfortunately, the DOJ has reacted to the first two offers by breaching their own confidentiality rules and claiming that the Duke has offered zero cooperation. In doing so, they are perhaps seeking publicity rather than accepting the assistance proffered."

"Any pursuit of an application for mutual legal assistance would be disappointing, since the Duke of York is not a target of the DOJ investigation and has recently repeated his willingness to provide a witness statement. It is hoped that this third offer has not been the cause of the most recent leak about the Duke of York. We do not intend to make any further public statement at this time as we wish to respect the rules of confidentiality under both English law and the US guidelines."

U.S. DOJ responds to Prince Andrew's statement

Afterward, U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman issued a statement in response, calling into question the legitimacy of Prince Andrew's claims.

"Today, Prince Andrew yet again sought to falsely portray himself to the public as eager and willing to cooperate with an ongoing federal criminal investigation into sex trafficking and related offenses committed by Jeffrey Epstein and his associates, even though the Prince has not given an interview to federal authorities, has repeatedly declined our request to schedule such an interview, and nearly four months ago informed us unequivocally — through the very same counsel who issues today's release — that he would not come in for such an interview."

"If Prince Andrew is, in fact, serious about cooperating with the ongoing federal investigation, our doors remain open, and we await word of when we should expect him," the attorney's statement concluded.

Prince Andrew could appear in court as part of Epstein case

As People reports, if the arrangement for Prince Andrew to testify does take place, he would appear in court to answer questions about his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who died by suicide in his jail cell in August 2019.

Prince Andrew previously attempted to defend his ties to Epstein and allegations of sexual abuse in a disastrous November 2019 BBC interview, which led him to step back from his royal duties.

Buckingham Palace earlier made it known that the Duke of York would fully cooperate with all investigations, but, in March 2020, U.S. prosecutors said the prince had "completely shut the door on voluntary cooperation."

They've now restated that accusation, as efforts to get Prince Andrew to testify in court have started up once again.