Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor—formerly Prince Andrew—”should have” been prosecuted based on new Jeffrey Epstein-related emails but will now not be because his accuser died in April, a former federal prosecutor told Newsweek.
A new Epstein Files release by the Department of Justice on Monday included emails from an anonymous sender who described himself as “The Invisible Man” but appeared to give personal information that matched the facts of Andrew’s life, from being at “Balmoral Summer Camp for the Royal Family” to leaving the “RN” in the same year Andrew retired from the Royal Navy.
And the messages showed the sender—who signed off as “A”—ask Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein’s former girlfriend, if she could find him “inappropriate friends.” Maxwell replied saying she could not.
Another email sent by Maxwell to a different address for “The Invisible Man” appeared to refer to him as “Andrew” and referenced: “Some 2 legged sight seeing (read intelligent pretty fun and from good families)” for a trip to Peru.
Andrew has always denied knowing about Epstein’s federal sex crimes. Neither the DOJ nor Andrew’s representatives have publicly authenticated the identity of ‘The Invisible Man,’ and no charges have been filed in the U.S. against Andrew.
Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor and now President of West Coast Trial Lawyers, told Newsweek: “They should have prosecuted, no question. I think if Virginia Giuffre were still alive there would be a potential criminal prosecution into Prince Andrew.”
Why It Matters
Virginia Giuffre said she was sex trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell to London, New York and the U.S. Virgin Islands in 2001 and made to have sex with Andrew, fearing death if she refused. Andrew has always denied the allegations.
Giuffre sued him at civil court in New York in 2021 and he settled for an undisclosed sum a year later while denying liability. In October, Buckingham Palace announced King Charles III was stripping Andrew of his royal titles in recognition of the Epstein scandal and Andrew is also being forced out of his mansion, Royal Lodge, in Windsor.
However, the U.K.’s Metropolitan Police has consistently declined to investigate allegations against Andrew despite multiple reviews of the evidence. In 2020, the U.S. D.O.J. sought Andrew’s testimony and Andrew’s then-lawyers indicated they had confirmation he was viewed as a witness not a target of the FBI investigation.
‘Invisible Man’ Emails ‘Absolutely Incriminating’ in Eyes of Prosecutors
Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor and now President of West Coast Trial Lawyers, told Newsweek a U.S. attorney would regard the emails as “incriminating” but in order to bring a prosecution they would need to go a step further to show there were underage girls involved based on the age of consent in whatever state the prosecution was being brought.
“This is absolutely incriminating,” he said. “The fact that you have [The Invisible Man] asking about ‘inappropriate friends,’ and girls in Peru, at a minimum, we’re talking about prostitutes—at a minimum. The question is, can they connect the dots and obviously show that people are underage girls?”
Andrew was asked by the BBC in 2019 whether it was possible he “could have had sex with that young woman [Giuffre] or any young woman trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein in any of his residences?”
He replied: “No and without putting too fine a point on it, if you’re a man it is a positive act to have sex with somebody. You have to have to take some sort of positive action and so therefore if you try to forget, it’s very difficult to try and forget a positive action, and I do not remember anything.”
What ‘The Invisible Man’ Emails Say
“The Invisible Man” has not been definitively identified as Andrew, though there are striking similarities between the information shared in the emails and the facts of Andrew’s life.
“If his defense were to be ‘it wasn’t me,’ that’s going to be a very difficult defense,” Rahmani said. “There’s so much evidence, circumstantial evidence, that it’s him. There’s identifying information that would only apply to Andrew.”
Among the details, an email sent in August 2001 read: “I am up here at Balmoral Summer Camp for the Royal Family. Activities take place all day and I am totally exhausted at the end of each day. The Girls are completely shattered and I will have to give them an early night today as it is getting tiring splitting them up all the time!”
Newspaper reports dug out by The Guardian show Andrew was at the royal family’s private Balmoral Estate in August 2001 with his daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, then 13 and 11.
“Have you found me some new inappropriate friends?” the email, seen by Newsweek, read. “Let me know when you are coming over as I am free from 25th August until 2nd Sept and want to go somewhere hot and sunny with some fun people before having to put my nose firmly to the grindstone for the Fall.”
Maxwell replied saying: “So sorry to disappoint you, however the truth must be told. I have only been able to find appropriate friends.”
“The Invisible Man” wrote back: “Distraught! You probably wouldn’t know but I lost my valet on Thursday. He died in his sleep. He had been with me since I was 2. I am a little off balance as not only has my office been restructured, I have left the RN and now my whole life is in turmoil as I have no one to look after me. He was a real rock and almost a part of the family.”
Andrew left the Royal Navy that year, in 2001, and The Guardian reports that his valet Michael Perry, 61, died days before the email was sent.
In 2002, Maxwell forwarded an email to a different address, also for “The Invisible Man.” The message had originally been sent to a Juan Estoban Ganoza relating to a trip to Peru by a man Maxwell named as “Andrew.”
“I just gave Andrew your telephone no,” Maxwell wrote to the individual referred to as Estoban Ganoza, in a message reported by The Guardian. “He is interested in seeing the Nazca Lines. He can ride but it is not his favorite sport ie pass on the horses. Some sight seeing some 2 legged sight seeing (read intelligent pretty fun and from good families) and he will be very happy.
“I know I can rely on you to show him a wonderful time and that you will only introduce him to friends that you can trust and rely on to be friendly and discreet and fun. He does not want to read about any trip in the papers whom or what he saw.”
Andrew did indeed visit Peru in his role as a U.K. trade envoy in March 2002, days after the emails were sent.
The Problem With Prosecuting Andrew Now
“Obviously, for a prosecution, we need more than these types of admissions,” Rahmani said. “We really do need a witness, especially when, again, I think the defense here would be that the women were paid, but they weren’t minors.
“I think that’s the challenge of prosecuting this case. If you have a victim testifying, that’s a different story. I think that’s the missing link here.”
Giuffre was 17 when she says she was trafficked to Andrew for sex and Rahmani said that would make her a minor in relation to any prosecution brought in New York, even in relation to the allegation in London, where the legal age of consent is locally 16. And that’s because any prosecution brought in New York would be based on the age of consent laws in the jurisdiction of the court, even if related to events outside that jurisdiction.
Maxwell was prosecuted in New York and jailed for 20 years based on an indictment which said she “assisted, facilitated, and contributed to Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse of minor girls by, among other things, helping Epstein to recruit, groom, and ultimately abuse victims known to MAXWELL and Epstein to be under the age of 18.” She was charged with sex trafficking offenses.
During the lawsuit between Andrew and Giuffre in 2022, Andrew’s lawyers argued in a court filing seen at the time by Newsweek: “The age of consent in New York is seventeen.” The case was settled out of court meaning the dispute between the two sides on age laws never went to trial.
Rahmani said: “Under the Confrontation Clause of the Constitution, an accused in the United States has the right to cross examine their accuser. So it can be very hard to move forward with any type of case, civil or criminal, without a victim who’s willing to testify.”
Giuffre was certainly willing in life, in fact she reported Andrew to the Metropolitan Police in London, but cannot now testify because she died in April in what a family statement released at the time described as a suicide.
What Andrew Has Said About Epstein Allegations
Andrew told BBC Newsnight‘s Emily Maitlis in a 2019 sit down interview: “I can tell you categorically I don’t remember meeting her [Giuffre] at all. I do not remember a photograph being taken and I’ve said consistently and frequently that we never had any sort of sexual contact whatever.”
On October 17, Andrew released a statement through the Buckingham Palace press office in which he said: “In discussion with The King, and my immediate and wider family, we have concluded the continued accusations about me distract from the work of His Majesty and the Royal Family.
“I have decided, as I always have, to put my duty to my family and country first. I stand by my decision five years ago to stand back from public life.
“With His Majesty’s agreement, we feel I must now go a step further. I will therefore no longer use my title or the honours which have been conferred upon me. As I have said previously, I vigorously deny the accusations against me.”
Charles later stripped him of his titles, announced through a Buckingham Palace statement on October 30.
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