Prosecutor: Prince Andrew has ‘completely shut the door on voluntary cooperation’ with Epstein investigation

The U.S. attorney in Manhattan said Monday that Prince Andrew has “completely shut the door on voluntary cooperation” with the Jeffery Epstein case.

U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman decided to make a rare statement on a person’s lack of cooperation with the investigation because of the prince’s previous statements saying he was willing to cooperate. He said his office is “considering options,” NBC News reported. 

“Contrary to Prince Andrew’s very public offer to cooperate with our investigation into Epstein’s co-conspirators, an offer that was conveyed via press release, Prince Andrew has now completely shut the door on voluntary cooperation,” Berman said, according to the news network.

Berman had previously said at a January news conference that the prince had provided “zero cooperation.”

“He publicly offered, indeed in a press release, offered to cooperate with law enforcement investigating the crimes committed by Jeffrey Epstein and his co-conspirators,” Berman said in January, according to NBC News.

Prince Andrew was a friend of Epstein, who was found dead in his New York jail cell where he was awaiting trial for his sex trafficking ring of underage girls. The prosecutors decided to continue the investigation into Epstein after his death. 

One victim, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, has alleged Prince Andrew sexually abused her after Epstein trafficked her to him when she was 17.

The prince has vehemently denied these allegations, saying in a November BBC interview that he has no recollection of meeting Giuffre, despite a widely circulated photo of the two of them together. 

Shortly after the BBC interview, Prince Andrew stepped down from his public duties at the Duke of York “for the foreseeable future,” citing the controversy with Epstein and his case.

“Of course, I am willing to help any appropriate law enforcement agency with their investigations, if required,” he said in a statement at the time.

Buckingham Palace declined to comment on the issue, saying it is “being dealt with by the Duke of York’s legal team,” according to NBC News.