Jonna Spilbor, a criminal defence attorney, said Friday that the Duke of York is "teetering on being criminally accused", following recent revelations in a BBC interview and a growing outcry from Epstein's alleged sex victims that Prince Andrew should meet with US investigators.
"I realise this is a very sensitive case, numerous victims, horrible allegations [...] But if I were advising him [...] he really needs to stop talking. He really needs to shut up", Spilbor said Friday, cited by Fox News, adding that "He's got pictures of himself with a girl who is underage at the time who said that she was forced to have sex with him. That is a crime [...] If he is subpoenaed, he would be able to plead the fifth because he is teetering on being criminally accused", Spilbor suggested.
In the BBC interview, Prince Andrew denied that he had sexual contact with Virginia Roberts Giuffre, then a minor and one of Epstein's high-profile accusers, in 2001. A cornerstone of the allegations is a photo depicting Prince Andrew and Giuffre together when the latter was 17. The royal family previously denied any wrongdoing by Prince Andrew and claimed that the notorious image had been doctored.
Gloria Allred, who is representing several of Epstein's alleged victims, earlier urged Prince Andrew to tell US investigators what he knows about the purported sex-trafficking ring run by the notorious American paedophile and his close associate, Ghislaine Maxwell.
Fox News reporter Bryan Llenas, who has been covering the Epstein case, said Friday that "there is a pretty damning 2001 photo of Prince Andrew wrapping his hand around Virginia Giuffre's waist when she was a minor", stressing that in the background the widely-known primary co-conspirator and former Epstein girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell can be seen.
Llenas also hinted at another important clue not so widely circulated in the media.
"There is a Daily Mail video reportedly from December 6, 2010, that shows Prince Andrew sort of peeking out the front door of Jeffrey Epstein's New York City mansion. What makes that look even worse is that a young brunette is seen leaving the house as he's opening that door. And less than an hour before that, Jeffrey Epstein is seen exiting his home with a young blond. Prince Andrew is now saying that 2010 visit was about him formally breaking his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein. That is what he says", Llenas stated.
The Daily Beast has allegedly found a new witness in the form of Deidre Stratton, who worked as a housekeeper at the convicted paedophile’s Zorro Ranch in New Mexico, according to the media outlet.
Stratton's main duty was to procure for Epstein a "stable" of young female "masseurs". She was required to maintain a list of women who "didn’t have tattoos or piercings" and who were willing to drive out to the ranch and "massage" him, The Daily Beast said.
“Massages being in air quotes. I don’t see how his guests wouldn’t know that”, Stratton said, cited by The Daily Beast, adding that Prince Andrew came alone to stay at the Zorro Ranch and was put up in a self-contained three-bedroom guest suite on the estate, accompanied by a young medic.
“At the time, Jeffrey had this, she supposedly was a neurosurgeon, quite young, beautiful, young and brilliant, and she stayed in the home with him [...] At one point we had all these different teas and you could pick the teas that you wanted and she asked me to find one that would make Andrew more horny [...] I’m guessing she understood her job was to entertain him because I guess, the fear, I don’t know; the fear would be that Andrew would say, ‘No I didn’t really find her that attractive’. [...] He would tell Jeffrey that and then she would be on the ropes”, Stratton said, as cited by The Daily Beast.
The former housekeeper claimed that Epstein was not at the Zorro residence at the time, but that he made all the arrangements for Prince Andrew's tryst.
"...Sex was all they thought about. I mean, I know for sure that Jeffrey would ideally like three massages a day [...]”, Stratton suggested, as cited by The Daily Beast.
Epstein's former housekeeper also recalled an interesting detail depicting Prince Andrew's cooking skills.
"I offered to come up and fix his breakfast and he said, ‘No I want to try’. [...] When I got up there later to tidy up, you could smell burnt bacon and he was like, ‘I didn't do so well’ ... He had a croissant and green tea or something. I remember him trying to cook his own breakfast. Isn’t that cute? He couldn’t even fry bacon”, Straton said, as cited by The Daily Beast.
Epstein, the deceased convicted sex abuser, had been under investigation for nearly two decades at the time of his suspicious death earlier this year. The convicted paedophile - linked to many wealthy and powerful people, including US Presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, was inexplicably taken off suicide watch, despite reportedly trying to kill himself just weeks earlier. He was earlier convicted as a sex offender and paedophile but served a light sentence of just 13 months.
