US lawyers believed there were “various factual inaccuracies” in Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s accounts during their probe into paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein, newly released emails show.
The internal communications came during a public row between the former duke and US prosecutors over his cooperation with their requests for an interview.
Andrew’s legal team had released a statement before the June 2020 email in which they said he had on “at least three occasions this year offered his assistance as a witness” to the Department of Justice (DoJ).
An unnamed lawyer from New York told former southern district of New York attorney Geoff Berman on June 8 2020: “Geoff — as discussed, I’ve put together a short proposed statement responding to the press release issued by Prince Andrew’s counsel this morning.
“If we do issue something in response, as you’ll see, I would recommend we keep it short and forward looking, rather than trying to rehash all of the various factual inaccuracies in his account of the past.”
Mr Berman went on to publicly accuse the former duke of attempting to “falsely portray himself to the public as eager and willing to co-operate”.
The emails came as part of a further “Epstein files” document dump by the DoJ, which also showed that the FBI received an anonymous tip from someone in Finland which alleged there had been “paedophilia organised by JE for Prince Andrew”.
The tip said evidence could be found by attempting to “look for keys stored in the drawing room”.
It added: “There are tapes in a secret compartment of a drawer next to a Michelangelo picture of a flower vase at his house in the Bahamas.
“Look also for other things in the kitchen. There is also another studio apartment in the Bahamas and in Ipanema, Brazil, and Florianopolis, Brazil.”
Andrew stepped down from royal duties in 2019 after his disastrous Newsnight interview, but the publication of Virginia Giuffre’s posthumous memoir, and the US government’s release of documents from Epstein’s estate, brought more scrutiny over his relationship with the financier.
It led to the King officially stripping his disgraced brother of both his HRH style and his prince title.
US politicians have criticised Andrew for his “silence” after he missed a deadline last month to respond to their request to sit for an interview about Epstein.
He paid millions to Ms Giuffre, a woman he has claimed never to have met, to settle a civil sexual assault claim in 2022.
The former duke vehemently denies any wrongdoing.
Photographs previously released by the DoJ appeared to show Andrew introducing Epstein to British high society – including a shooting trip to Balmoral and a trip to the royal box at Ascot.
The former duke could also be seen reclining across the legs of five women with his head near one woman’s lap, in a picture reportedly taken at Sandringham, the King’s private estate in Norfolk where Andrew will move from Windsor in the new year.
