Name: US prosecutors invite Prince Andrew to 'talk to us' after arrest of Ghislaine Maxwell
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US prosecutors invite Prince Andrew to 'talk to us' after arrest of Ghislaine Maxwell

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US prosecutors have said they would "welcome" Prince Andrew's testimony after the FBI arrested his close friend Ghislaine Maxwell on charges of sex trafficking for the dead financier Jeffrey Epstein.&nbsp;Ms Maxwell, a former girlfriend of the disgraced late financier, was picked up in a small town in New Hampshire on Thursday morning and charged with helping elicit underage girls to travel for sex and of lying to investigators about it later.&nbsp;The arrest could have significant implications for the Duke of York, who is reported to have been introduced to Epstein in 1999 by his friend Ms Maxwell, as well as other high-profile associates of the pair going back decades.Audrey Strauss, acting US attorney for the Southern District of New York, said she "would welcome Prince Andrew coming in to talk with us. We would like to have the benefit of his statement," prompting speculation that he may among those investigators focus their attention on next.She alleged that Ms Maxwell recruited, groomed, and abused victims known to be minors as young as 14 and played a part in trafficking them across America, the UK and France. One of the girls was allegedly groomed and abused in London, according to an unsealed indictment filed in New York.Ms Maxwell appeared via video link at a court hearing in New Hampshire on Thursday afternoon, where she read the charges against her.Victims of Epstein said on Thursday&nbsp;said they were relieved: "Now that the ring has been taken down, I know that I can't be hurt anymore," one said.The French-born Oxford-educated Ms Maxwell met Epstein shortly after moving to New York to take over her father Robert Maxwell’s publishing empire when he died in 1991. The couple briefly dated and she introduced him to her wide, influential circle of friends.Ms Maxwell, 58, is central to allegations made by Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who has claimed she was trafficked from the US to London and forced to sleep with Prince Andrew when she was 17.&nbsp;The Duke himself has always strongly denied the claims, maintaining that he has no recollection of meeting Ms Giuffre.&nbsp;Ms Giuffre alleges she was introduced to the Duke in Ms Maxwell's London home in March 2001, with a now-famous photograph of the Duke with his arm around the younger woman said to have been taken upstairs.&nbsp;On Thursday night, Ms Giuffre tweeted that she was "so, so happy" about Ms Maxwell's arrest and said investigators should "throw the book at her".Orange is the new black- Thank you to and anyone involved in the arrest of this insidious creature. Hope the judge throws the book at her. So so so happy- she’s finally where she belongs. 🦋 — Virginia Giuffre (@VRSVirginia)The Duke is last known to have met Ms Maxwell at Buckingham Palace in the summer of 2019, two weeks after US prosecutors announced they wanted to reopen their investigation into Epstein.The Duke said in his Newsnight interview that it was the last time he was in touch with Ms Maxwell, with whom he has been friends for decades, inviting her to a "straightforward shooting weekend" at Sandringham and to Princess Beatrice's 18th birthday party at Windsor Castle.In June, the Duke's lawyers said he had offered to speak to investigators “on at least three occasions this year”, accusing them of "seeking publicity rather than accepting the assistance proffered".&nbsp;In November, sources familiar with the case told the Telegraph Ms Maxwell would never implicate the Duke if she was to be interviewed by the FBI over the Epstein scandal.A source close to the Duke said: “The Duke’s team remains bewildered given that we have twice communicated with the DOJ (US Department of Justice) in the last month and to-date, we have had no response.”A former New York prosecutor told the Telegraph on Thursday that Ms Maxwell may be offered a deal if she had information about the Duke.&nbsp;“They could be putting on pressure on,” the former prosecutor said: "They knew where she was, they were just building a case. If they felt she was a true flight risk they would have grabbed her sooner.&nbsp;“They obviously wanted to get their ducks in a row. They'll have been going through emails, computers, all that."Mrs Strauss hinted at the prospect. "In the event that she were to become a co-operator, I think that we can deal with that,” she told reporters.Ms Maxwell may hold the key to the Duke's ongoing involvement in the Epstein investigation, he said, with the ability to fully corroborate his denials to the FBI on record, or provide new evidence that leads to news areas of investigation.According to the indictment at the Southern District Court of New York, she is facing six charges, including enticement and conspiracy to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, transportation and conspiracy to transport minors with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, and two counts of perjury.Federal prosecutors said in court papers she had "enticed and caused minor victims to travel to Epstein's residence in different states" and that Maxwell would assist in their "grooming for and subjection to sexual abuse."Prosecutors charged that Ms Maxwell was well aware of Epstein's preference for minor girls, and that he intended to sexually abuse them.The indictment accuses Ms Maxwell of luring the girls beginning in 1994 through 1997 by asking them about their lives, schools and families and taking them shopping or to the cinema.Mrs Strauss called Ms Maxwell's alleged acts "the prequel" to Epstein's abuse.After Ms Maxwell won the girls' trust, the indictment alleges, she would try to "normalise sexual abuse" by discussing sexual topics or by undressing in front of them or being present when they were undressed.The charges involve three unnamed victims, the youngest of whom was 14.One of the girls, referred to as "Victim 3" to protect her identity, was allegedly underage when she was groomed and abused in London between the years 1994-1995. The indictment alleges that Ms Maxwell "encouraged Victim 3 to give massages to Epstein."Ms Maxwell was accused by many women of recruiting them to give the financier massages, during which they were pressured into sex. Those accusations, until now, never resulted in criminal charges.There is no mention of the Duke in the indictment.William Sweeney, assistant director of the FBI in New York City, said Ms Maxwell was “one of the villains in this case”.&nbsp;“We have been keeping tabs on Miss Maxwell’s whereabouts, and recently slithered away to a beautiful property in New Hampshire,” Mr Sweeney said.She has been laying low since the arrest of Epstein last summer. Epstein died in an apparent suicide weeks later in his prison cell in New York while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.Some reports suggested she was travelling between Israel, France and the UK.&nbsp;However, in the court filing, prosecutors say Ms Maxwell had been staying in locations in New England since Epstein's arrest last July.&nbsp;The filing says Ms Maxwell appears to have been living on a 156-acre property in the picturesque town of Bradford, New Hampshire, that she bought last December in cash purchase, using a limited liability company to shield her identity.&nbsp;Prosecutors asked for her to be detained in custody and denied bail because she has "extensive international ties, three passports, citizenship&nbsp;in two other countries and absolutely no reason to stay in the US." Ms Maxwell has a British passport as well as a French one from her mother.They said she was a flight risk as she has travelled at least 15 times internationally in the last three years, including to the UK, Japan, and Qatar.&nbsp;She is also reported to have more than 15 bank accounts tied to her from 2016 to present, with accounts up to $20 million.She faces up to 35 years in prison if convicted of the charges against her.Jennifer Araoz, a woman who says Epstein raped her in his New York mansion in 2002 when she was 15, said she feared the financier's ring of conspirators for years."Now that the ring has been taken down, I know that I can't be hurt anymore," she said in a statement. "Day after day, I have waited for the news that Maxwell would be arrested. It truly means that the justice system didn't forget about us."Related TopicsAdvertisementRelated TopicsWe rely on advertising to help fund our award-winning journalism.We urge you to turn off your ad blocker for The Telegraph website so that you can continue to access our quality content in the future.Thank you for your support.Need help?Visit ourpage.Close

US prosecutors have said they would "welcome" Prince Andrew's testimony after the FBI arrested his close friend Ghislaine Maxwell on charges of sex trafficking for the dead financier Jeffrey Epstein.&nbsp;Ms Maxwell, a former girlfriend of the disgraced late financier, was picked up in a small town in New Hampshire on Thursday morning and charged with helping elicit underage girls to travel for sex and of lying to investigators about it later.&nbsp;The arrest could have significant implications for the Duke of York, who is reported to have been introduced to Epstein in 1999 by his friend Ms...

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Josie Ensor

By Josie Ensor

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US prosecutors invite Prince Andrew to 'talk to us' after arrest of Ghislaine Maxwell

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