Prince Andrew of England is accused of having intercourse with an underage sex slave, a charge Buckingham Palace is calling outrageous.
Jeffrey Epstein is a billionaire who was found guilty in 2008 of soliciting underage girls for sex.
Lawyers for a woman, known as Jane Doe #3, who claims she was forced to have sex with Prince Andrew at parties, are saying the Prince lobbied the United States government to be lenient on Epstein. The American billionaire is a longtime friend of the Prince.
Court papers allege Prince Andrew indulged in adult relations with an underage girl at a party, acting as a sex slave. The royal family member was seen with Epstein in 2011, after the billionaire was released from prison, following his sentence.
"Epstein...trafficked Jane Doe #3 for sexual purposes to many other powerful men, including numerous prominent American politicians, powerful business executives, foreign presidents, a well-known Prime Minister, and other world leaders. Epstein required Jane Doe #3 to describe the events that she had with these men so that he could potentially blackmail them," court papers filed in Florida, stated.
Buckingham Palace is officially denying the claims, which they label as "categorically untrue."
Alan Dershowitz, a 76-year-old American lawyer, is also named in the allegations, although he denies any wrongdoing. Lawyers for the woman claim the lawyer assisted Prince Andrew in pressuring the United States to seek a light sentence for Epstein.
"My only feeling is if she's lied about me, which I know to an absolute certainty she has, she should not be believed about anyone else. We know she's lied about other public figures including a former prime minister and others who she claims to have participated in sexual activities with, so I think it must be presumed all her allegations against Prince Andrew were false as well," Dershowitz said.
Prince Andrew was born on February 19, 1960, as the third child of Queen Elizabeth the Second and Prince Phillip. At the time of his birth, he was second-in-line to the throne held by his mother, and he is currently fifth in the line of succession. He is a commander in the Royal Navy, with the honorary rank of rear admiral, and he saw combat during the Falklands War against Argentina. In 1986, he married Sarah Ferguson, before the couple split up in a highly-publicized divorce 10 years later.
Prince Andrew made news in 2002, when he lent his airplane to Bill Clinton, as well as a number of celebrities, for a flight to Africa to study anti-aids programs on that continent.
