'He was on the island, in the townhouse, on the jets’: Virginia Giuffre's co-author calls on Prince Andrew to testify
Virginia Giuffre biography co-author says Prince Andrew should come forward to tell authorities what he witnessed during his time with Jeffrey Epstein, even if he maintains his denial of wrongdoing.
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In brief:
- Virginia Giuffre's co-author Amy Wallace argues Prince Andrew should testify on what he witnessed during his time with Jeffrey Epstein, even if he continues to deny wrongdoing, having been present at Epstein's properties where abuse occurred.
- Prince Andrew settled with Giuffre for an estimated $12 million and recently gave up his Royal titles, but has never faced trial or followed through on earlier statements that he would cooperate with US authorities investigating Epstein.
- Wallace speaks to Emily Maitlis on the day Nobody’s Girl, a memoir by Virginia Giuffre is published and says while it’s “up to the authorities” whether Andrew stands trial, “there are still things he can do”.
What’s the story?
Prince Andrew should come forward and reveal what he saw during his time spent with Jefferey Epstein, Amy Wallace, the co-author of Virginia Giuffre’s memoir says.
Giuffre spent years working with Wallace on her memoir, Nobody’s Girl, but never lived to see it published, having died by suicide in April this year.
She was the first, and most outspoken, victim of convicted sex offender Epstein, and revealed being forced to have sex with Prince Andrew on three occasions, arranged by Epstein and his partner Ghislaine Maxwell.
The Prince, who previously paid an estimated $12 million to settle a civil case against Giuffre, gave up his titles days before the book’s release, but has never stood trial for the accusations.
Whether a trial ever becomes a reality for Prince Andrew is “up to the authorities,” Wallace tells Emily Maitlis.
But, she says, if he stands by his claim that he did nothing wrong, he certainly was a witness to crimes during his time spent with Epstein - so why wouldn’t he come forward to help authorities with an investigation?
“There was a time that he asserted that he was willing to help US authorities in the investigation of Epstein. He stated that through his lawyers more than once, and it never materialised,” Wallace says.
“What I would say about Prince Andrew today is that I know he continues to deny - even though he settled with her for a great sum of money - that he did anything wrong. But he was on the island. He was in the Manhattan townhouse. He was on the Jets.”
In his settlement with Giuffre, Prince Andrew said what Epstein’s victims endured as “awful”, Wallace adds. If he meant it, he could come forward now and make a difference – without incriminating himself.
“He could say, I'm not going to talk about me or what I did or didn't do because I didn't do it. But I do want to validate the experience of those women.
“‘I do want to say what I saw, because I was there a lot, and I saw they aren't lying. They tell the truth. I saw the coterie of girls. I saw the men who came in’.”
During her years spent helping Giuffre to put her story into words, and speaking to other victims, Wallace says there isn’t a world in which Andrew didn’t see what Epstein was up to.
“He absolutely saw,” she tells Emily.
She describes his multiple homes as having a “parade of people constantly going through” - and says this also would have been the case when Prince Andrew went to stay.
“The four day visit that you interviewed him about in your amazing BBC Newsnight interview, where he says, ‘I went there to tell him the friendship was over’. He stayed in his house in order to do that,” she says.
“He stayed there for four days. There were parties that went on then, and we know some of the names of the people at those parties because they were reported at the time."
Wallace says that as well as calling for a trial, people should want for the Prince to come forward to validate the victims stories.
“I am not holding my breath that that is going to happen,” she tells Emily.
“But I'm just reminding people that that is an option, and if he took the measure of his own moral compass and felt as strongly as he says he does, as the father of daughters, as a person who theoretically cares about other people, there are things he could still do.”