Judge ready to reveal secret papers linking Prince to pedophile
A federal judge is on the cusp of releasing documents, which allegedly reveal that Prince Andrew played a role in protecting billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein from receiving an extra 18 years of jail.
The 15, 000 page document is also believed to name the Duke of York as one of several powerful figures involved in an underage sex ring, News Corp reports.
Federal Judge Kenneth Marra said the documents will be released unless Epstein’s legal team can convince him there are “extraordinary circumstances” as to why they should not be.
“Public policy favours judicial records being open to the public,” Judge Marra said.
“In order for the court to take action inconsistent with that policy, a party seeking to seal a judicial record must provide adequate ¬justification overcoming the presumption that filings in civil cases be public.”
The potential release of the documents comes on the eve of Prince Andrew’s first planned public appearance since allegations broke earlier this month that he had sex with a minor.
The royal is set to attend the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
A notice on his official Facebook page said he will "host a Pitch@Palace Reception at Davos on 22nd January to promote British Entrepreneurship".
Buckingham Palace has vehemently denied accusations the Duke of York had sex with a woman, identified in reports as Virginia Roberts, on three separate occasions when she was underage.
She is said to have been "procured" for him by Epstein, whom she accuses of using her as a "sex slave".
Roberts, a US citizen, waived her anonymity in an interview with the Mail On Sunday in 2011, in which she claimed she had been sexually exploited by Epstein.
In US court papers, she goes further and alleges that between 1999 and 2002 she "was forced to have sexual relations with this prince when she was a minor" in London, New York and on a private Caribbean island owned by Epstein where an orgy took place.
The accusation is contained in a motion filed last month in a Florida court by Roberts, who wants to join an existing lawsuit, launched by two other alleged Epstein victims, against federal prosecutors' handling of the financier's case.
Epstein was jailed for 18 months in 2008 for soliciting a minor for prostitution but lawyers for the women claim a secret plea deal he struck with prosecutors granting him, and any potential co-conspirators, immunity from further prosecution violated their clients' rights.
