Disgraced former socialite Ghislaine Maxwell has claimed in a jailhouse interview with a U.Ok. broadcaster {that a} decades-old {photograph} of Prince Andrew together with his sexual abuse accuser Virginia Giuffre is “fake.”
Maxwell, a buddy to British royalty, is imprisoned in Florida after her conviction and 20-year sentence for serving to late financier Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse women.
Giuffre has claimed she was trafficked by the pair to, amongst others, Andrew, King Charles III’s youthful brother.
The 39-year-old sued the discredited royal in a United States courtroom, claiming they’d intercourse in London when she was 17 and a minor beneath U.S regulation.
He settled the sexual assault lawsuit at appreciable value final yr, sparing him the general public humiliation of a trial.
The prince, 62, has not been criminally charged and has continued to disclaim the accusations.
But he stepped again from royal duties and was stripped of his navy titles amid a public outcry over the reported $16.3 million settlement.
{A photograph} of Andrew together with his arm round Giuffre’s waist and Maxwell standing subsequent to them — stated to have been taken in London in 2001 — is seen as essential to the declare towards the prince.
Rex Features
But in her U.S. federal jail interview with TalkTV, set to air within the U.Ok. on Monday night, Maxwell, who has identified him for many years, is adamant the picture isn’t real.
“It’s a fake. I don’t believe it’s real for a second, in fact I’m sure it’s not,” she states. “There’s never been an original and further there is no photograph. I’ve only ever seen a photocopy of it.”
The late Queen Elizabeth II’s youngest son has insisted he had by no means met Giuffre, and in a disastrous 2019 BBC interview additionally appeared to query the picture’s authenticity.
“I don’t believe that photograph was taken in the way that has been suggested,” he informed the broadcaster on the time. “It’s a photograph of a photograph of a photograph … Nobody can prove whether or not that photograph has been doctored.”
The feedback by Maxwell, who’s interesting her U.S. conviction, come as British newspapers stated Sunday that Andrew will bid to overturn the pricey settlement he agreed with Giuffre virtually a yr in the past.
It follows her dropping a separate abuse declare towards superstar lawyer Alan Dershowitz.
The Sun reported Andrew was consulting U.S. attorneys Andrew Brettler and Blair Berk and hopes to pressure a retraction and even an apology, which it added might pave the best way for a royal rehabilitation.
“I can tell you with confidence that the Prince Andrew team is now considering legal options,” a “well-placed source” informed the tabloid.
A consultant for Andrew couldn’t instantly be reached for remark.
Under a reported gagging clause within the settlement, Giuffre has been unable to speak publicly in regards to the declare, however that’s stated to be set to finish subsequent month.
In a earlier jailhouse interview for a particular that aired on Paramount+, Maxwell additionally forged doubt on the well-known picture — although Maxwell had beforehand indicated in an e-mail to Dershowitz that the picture was actual.
In that interview, Maxwell stated that “meeting Epstein was the greatest mistake of my life.”
“If I could go back today, I would avoid meeting him, and I would say that that would be the greatest mistake I’ve ever made, and I would make different choices for where I would work,” Maxwell stated.
Asked if she seems like a sufferer of Epstein herself, Maxwell stated, “I don’t particularly like the word victim. It’s one that should be used very sparingly because, you know, today everybody is a victim of something.”