Attorneys representing one of Jeffrey Epstein’s accusers have requested a meeting with Prince Andrew, Duke of York, to discuss his relationship with the late Epstein, one of Epstein’s associates and the accuser, according to a letter obtained by CNN.
In the letter, attorneys for accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre requested the meeting — in New York, London or “any other place you may designate” — to discuss and “explore” the prince’s relationship with Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, a British woman who has been accused of assisting Epstein in his sexual abuse, and their client.
Attorneys Bradley Edwards and David Boies write in the letter that they are “puzzled” and “disappointed” that the prince did not cooperate with the attorneys’ request for a meeting years ago when a photo surfaced in numerous media reports appearing to show him with his arm around Giuffre and Maxwell in the background.
The Duke of York’s office confirmed receipt of the letter, according to documents obtained by CNN. Maxwell and her representatives have previously denied she engaged in sexual abuse or sex trafficking.
In 2015, Giuffre said in a federal court filing that she was forced to have sex with the prince while underage. “I knew he was a member of the British Royal Family, but I just called him ‘Andy,’” she said in a sworn statement to the court.
Prince Andrew has repeatedly rejected all accusations leveled against him in connection to the Epstein case.
“I deplore the exploitation of any human being and would not condone, participate in or encourage any such behavior,” Andrew said in a statement released on August 24.
In the statement, Andrew said he met Epstein in 1999 and “saw him infrequently and probably no more than only once or twice a year.” Andrew also said that he stayed at “a number of his (Epstein’s) residences.”
“At no stage during the limited time I spent with him did I see, witness or suspect any behavior of the sort that subsequently led to his arrest and conviction,” Andrew said. He added that it was a “mistake and an error” to see Epstein in 2010, two years after the financier first pleaded pleaded guilty to state charges in Florida, including soliciting prostitution from a minor.
“I can only reiterate my regret that I was mistaken to think that what I thought I knew of him was evidently not the real person,” Andrew said.
Giuffre addressed the press outside a New York courthouse on August 27 after she and more than a dozen Epstein accusers had spoken in court about Epstein. When asked about Prince Andrews’ denials, Giuffre said: “He knows what he’s done, and he can attest to that.”
“He knows exactly what he’s done, and I hope he comes clean about it,” she said.
Buckingham Palace rejected the claim, issuing a statement that said, “It is emphatically denied that the Duke of York [Andrew] had any form of sexual contact or relationship” with the woman.
On Friday, a Buckingham Palace spokesperson told CNN, “We have nothing further to add to our previous statement on Virginia Roberts.”
Epstein, 66, died in jail in August while waiting to be tried on charges of running a sex trafficking ring of underage girls, some as young as 14 years old. His death was ruled a suicide.
CNN’s Radina Gigova in London contributed to this report.