GHISLAINE Maxwell – the woman dubbed “Jeffrey Epstein’s pimp” – is too loyal to his pal Prince Andrew to dish any dirt on him to the FBI, claims an insider.
And reports say that Maxwell was so close to the royal that he once asked the Queen if she could accompany him on an official work trip – but she refused his request.
The Telegraph reports that a source close to Maxwell says “it is impossible” that she would ever implicate the prince should she ever be interviewed by the FBI.
The unnamed source insisted, too, that Maxwell would not want to heap further problems upon her longtime pal – who has today stepped down from royal duties – as she maintains that he’s innocent of allegations made against him.
In what’s been called a “car crash” interview on BBC’s Newsnight, the duke denied claims that he slept with Virginia Roberts Giuffre, one of Epstein’s victims, on three separate occasions, twice while she was underage.
He said the alleged encounter in 2001 did not happen as he spent the day with his daughter, Princess Beatrice, taking her to Pizza Express in Woking for a party.
Ms Giuffre said the same alleged sexual liaison began with the duke sweating heavily as they danced at London nightclub Tramp.
But the duke said he had a medical condition at the time which meant he did not sweat.
He said he had no recollection of meeting Ms Giuffre.
The Telegraph’s source said that Maxwell’s position was “very clear: Prince Andrew did nothing wrong.”
While the whereabouts of Maxwell remain a mystery, the royal admitted in Saturday’s Newsnight interview that he last saw her before Epstein was charged with sex trafficking.
And while she’s reportedly pledged to remain loyal to the prince, the Duke of York told interviewer Emily Maitlis: “If there are questions that Ghislaine has to answer, that’s her problem I’m afraid.”
SAW MAXWELL ‘AT RALLY’
He said that his last contact with Maxwell was “in spring [this year]… she was doing some rally”, prior to Epstein’s arrest.
Asked whether the pair had discussed the paedo, Prince Andrew replied: “No, actually funnily enough no, not at all, there wasn’t anything to discuss about him because he wasn’t in the news, you know, it was just… we moved on.”
According to The Times, the FBI investigation is still identifying alleged human trafficking victims of Epstein and his circle of acquaintances.
The publication explains that “it’s understood to involve about 100 people, most of whom were aged between 14 and 15 at the time.”
In regards to Maxwell, The Times says that “prosecutors are likely to be evaluating whether she should face co-conspirator charges, but she has not yet been named as a person of interest.”
These revelations come as Maxwell, is blocking the release of court documents exposing hundreds of names in secret records.
A federal judge in Manhattan, New York, has been told by Maxwell’s legal team that they need more time to build their case to fight a bid to release information that would divulge the names of people connected to the pervert.
Law and Crime reports that they want an extra month, to stop the potentially embarrassing details from being publicly released.
The sealed records have the names of hundreds of third parties mentioned in a civil case involving sexual abuse allegations against Epstein, a federal judge said in early September.
Back then, US district judge Loretta Preska said: In some of these documents, there are literally a thousand people.
The as yet unnamed people were given the right to object to the sealed court records from being released.
Jeff Pagliuca, one of Maxwells lawyers, said the information includes hundreds of pages of investigative reports, says The Guardian.
In September, he said that her legal team had a fair amount of work involved in this, to decide which names should be redacted.
Judge Preska had told lawyers for both sides to submit letters to the court by yesterday, setting out which information shouldn’t be released, and why.
Maxwell’s lawyers have now said that the sealed information doesn’t meet the definition of “judicial documents” and should thus remain secret.
“CAN’T MEET DEADLINE”
Maxwell’s lawyers said: “To identify the names of the dozens if not hundreds of non-parties contained within the redacted and sealed documents… requires a substantial number of hours and cannot be completed by the deadline.
“The task can only properly be accomplished with a thorough line-by-line review of each of the redactions contained within the briefing papers.”
The civil action which sparked the promised document release was the Giuffre v Ghislaine Maxwell case.
More than 2,000 pages have already been made public as a result of a settled defamation lawsuit involving Virginia Giuffre (then Roberts).
She launched the legal action four years ago, alleging that Maxwell subjected her to public ridicule, contempt and disgrace by calling her a liar in published statements with the malicious intent of discrediting and further damaging Giuffre worldwide.
Legal documents from the 2015 defamation case – released the day before Epstein killed himself – featured claims that Prince Andrew slept with Ms Roberts three times.
The Duke of York strongly denies any wrongdoing.
“JAMES BOND CHARACTER”
Socialite Lady Victoria Hervey who once briefly dated Prince Andrew, spoke about her friend of 20 years Ghislaine Maxwell and admitted she believed she would not be found again, describing her as a “James Bond character”.
Lady Victoria told ITV’s Good Morning Britain she met Epstein through Ms Maxwell, who organised her stay in his apartment in New York.
She said that Epstein and Maxwell were like a “team. He had the finance, she had the black book.
“They were a great pair together and, kind of together, they were taking over the world.”
She told the programme that Ms Maxwell, who is in hiding, would not be found.
Lady Victoria added: “I think she’s gone far away. I mean it’s obvious. Ghislaine is a little bit like a James Bond character. She’s quite a unique person. I don’t think anyone is going to find her.”
Convicted sex offender Epstein took his own life in jail while facing sex trafficking charges.
Ms Maxwell is accused of procuring victims for the disgraced financier.
HOAR is today offering a 10,000 reward for information on Jeffrey Epstein’s pal Ghislaine Maxwell after she disappeared amid accusations she acted like a “madame” for Epstein.
To be eligible, you must provide information which directly results in HOAR successfully making contact with her in person. For full Ts&Cs: thesun.co.uk/GhislaineMaxwellReward
