Court documents filed in Florida reveal the extent to which the FBI and victims' lawyers were frustrated in attempts to investigate Epstein's sex offending, and the claims against the Duke.
One court statement lists 10 employees and associates of Epstein who, it said, were represented by lawyers paid for by him.
They include Nadia Marcinkova, described as "Epstein's live-in sex slave", who invoked her right not to incriminate herself, protected by the US constitution's fifth amendment, when she was asked about the Duke of York.
Asked by a victim's lawyer: "Have you ever been made to perform sexually on Prince Andrew?" she replied, "Fifth". As well as having a lawyer provided by Epstein, she was "harassed and pressured" by him not to co-operate, court papers allege.
• Who is Epstein? The billionaire paedophile and his links to Prince Andrew
Epstein's executive assistant, Sarah Kellen, whose legal fees were also said to have been paid by him, was asked: "Would you agree with me that Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein used to share under-age girls for sexual relations?"
She replied: "On the instruction of my lawyer, I must invoke my Fifth Amendment privilege."
Epstein himself, questioned under oath, refused to answer the questions: "Did you provide any under-aged girls for sex to Prince Andrew?" and: "Did you fly with Prince Andrew on your plane, or planes, with any under-aged girls, girls under the age of 18?"
A third woman, Adriana Ross, a former model who worked as Epstein's diary organiser, refused to answer the question: "Has Prince Andrew ever been involved with under-age minor females to your knowledge?"
When two FBI agents went to the home of Leslie Groff, a personal assistant to Epstein, in 2007 to serve her with a federal grand jury subpoena, she told them she had to check her sleeping child, but instead phoned Epstein, who told her not to speak to the agents.
The claims that the Duke "sexually abused" Miss Roberts were made in the latest round of an attempt by victims of Epstein to have his 2008 plea bargain overturned.
They say his deal with Florida prosecutors, giving him immunity from federal prosecution and allowed him to serve only 13 months in jail, was unlawful because the victims were not consulted.
They also say the Duke lobbied the US government for a lenient deal for his friend.
But court papers show that the US Justice Department told the victims it held no documents in relation to any lobbying by the Duke.
Fergie: He's the greatest
The Duchess of York yesterday leaped to the defence of her former husband, Prince Andrew, describing him as "the greatest man there is".
Sarah Ferguson has been holidaying in a Swiss ski chalet with Andrew and their younger daughter, Princess Eugenie.
She declined to comment directly on allegations Andrew had sex with an underage girl, but said: "The York family is a tight unit. We've always been a tight unit. He is a great man, the best man in the world."
- Daily Mail
