Prince Andrew Has in Fact Provided 'Zero Cooperation' to Federal Investigators

Just as he appeared to be slithering back out of the spotlight while attention was on Harry and Meghan, Prince Andrew is in the news again: Federal prosecutors and the FBI say they want to interview him regarding his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, but he hasn’t responded.

That’s the latest from Geoffrey S. Berman, U.S. Attorney for the southern district of New York (ie, the one that includes Manhattan). The New York Times reported that in a news conference outside Epstein’s Upper East Side mansion, Berman revealed that Andrew has provided “zero cooperation,” despite requests for an interview. This whole time, the line out of Buckingham Palace has been that Andrew would happily cooperate with the authorities; “Of course, I am willing to help any appropriate law enforcement agency with their investigations, if required,” he said in a statement last year.

Prince Andrew was friends with Epstein for years and was photographed walking in Central Park with Epstein even after he was a convicted sex offender. (In fact, he was staying at Epstein’s house at the time.) Virginia Roberts has alleged that she was trafficked to Andrew by Epstein. Andrew was forced to withdraw from his public duties as a working royal in 2019 after an absolutely disastrous interview in which, among other things, he said Roberts’ account was problematic because at the time he didn’t sweat.

But despite his being essentially fired as a royal, Prince Andrew is still around: on January 19 he was photographed attending church with the queen.

“Jeffrey Epstein couldn’t have done what he did without the assistance of others, and I can assure you that the investigation is moving forward,” said Berman.