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JEFFREY Epstein REFUSED to answer questions over whether he tried to blackmail Prince Andrew over his alleged bathtub sex with Virginia Giuffre, court documents reveal.
The paedophile financier pleaded the fifth eight times as he was quizzed during a former trial against his ex-lover, disgraced British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell.
Epstein was directly asked whether he and Maxwell instructed Giuffre to have sex with Prince Andrew in 2001 and whether he had asked her to gather a “full report” to be later used as “blackmail material”.
The American billionaire was also questioned over whether Andrew, 63, had sex with Giuffre “several times” and if the information gathered for the trial “has the potential to affect the reputation” of the duke.
The revelations, uncovered in the latest dump of bombshell court documents, followed allegations that Epstein paid Giuffre £11,800 to have sex with the prince.
Andrew’s accuser has previously claimed he sexually assaulted her in a Victorian-style bath at Ghislaine’s mews house in Belgravia in March 2001.
Monday’s drop of documents revealed Maxwell’s lawyer had claimed that Giuffre lied about having sex with Andrew because he was “too big for the bath”.
The late Queen’s second son stepped down from public life after the furore over his friendship with Epstein, and paid millions to settle a civil sexual assault case with Giuffre – a woman he claimed never to have met.
He was cast out of the working monarchy and no longer uses his HRH style after Giuffre, who was trafficked by Epstein, accused him of sexually assaulting her when she was 17.
The duke strenuously denies any wrongdoing.
The transcript of Epstein’s interview was released as part of the final trove of documents unsealed from Giuffre’s 2015 civil claim against Maxwell, 62.
During Epstein’s deposition, Giuffre’s counsel Paul Cassell asked: “In fact, it would be a fair assessment of all the circumstances surrounding this situation to say that you forced Virginia to have sex with Prince Andrew?”
After Epstein declined to answer, the lawyer continued: “What would have happened to Virginia if she had refused to have sex with Prince Andrew?”
After Epstein again refused to answer the question, Cassell then asked Epstein: “Shortly after Prince Andrew and Virginia had sex, Virginia gave you a full report about the details of the sex, true?”
Cassell also said: “Isn’t it true, sir, that Prince Andrew thanked you for making Virginia available to him for sexual purposes?”
Epstein declined again to answer.
Questioning Epstein on the alleged blackmail plot, Cassell said: “You had previously instructed Virginia that she had to give you a full report on the details of what men like Prince Andrew did to her so that you would have blackmail material you could use, true?”
Epstein was also quizzed on what he knew about Andrew’s “sexual preferences”, and on whether Giuffre had “recounted specific behaviour that Prince Andrew requested before sexual intercourse”.
The disgraced financier again declined to answer the questions.
Later in his interview, Epstein was also asked: “To your knowledge, Prince Andrew had sex with Virginia several times, right?”
Before finishing his questioning, Cassell said: “This litigation has the potential to affect the reputation of Prince Andrew, right?”
Epstein once again pleaded the fifth to both questions.
The convicted paedophile was found dead in New York on August 10, 2019, while awaiting trial for a range of offences, including trafficking minors for sex, and multiple rapes.
Giuffre’s 2016 deposition was also released on Tuesday – which featured her previously reported claims that Epstein had paid her £11,800 to have sex with Andrew.
Throughout the questioning, Prince Andrew’s name came up more than 60 times.
She also alleged she was trafficked the south of France to a “foreign” prince, as well as a well-known prime minister who she refused to name over concerns for her safety.
She said she did not the name of the prince, but added: “He did speak foreign tongue, he spoke English as well, but I’m not too sure where he was from…I was introduced to him as a prince.”
Giuffre also recounted how she burned a “booklet” she wrote detailing her encounters with Andrew to get rid of “painful” memories.
The diary was written at the request of journalist Sharon Churcher, and Giuffre said she gave the writer some of the original pages relating to the duke.
But she said she decided not to burn photographs at her then-Florida home in 2013 because “they’re evidence”.
“I wanted to get rid of it. It was very painful stuff,” she said.
In total, 215 court documents have been unsealed over the course of five days after the media argued it was in the public interest to remove redactions which hid the names of individuals.
It has revealed a sordid trail of Epstein’s associates and friends and further details of his depraved sexual crimes and victims.
One such victim is Sarah Ransome who claims she was raped three times in a single day by Epstein as she tried to flee his notorious “Paedo Island”.
All of the above have always vehemently denied any wrongdoing over their association with Epstein and no tapes have ever emerged publicly.
A spokesman for Branson blasted the claims as “baseless and unfounded”.
And on Tuesday she stood by allegations she made in 2016 that the convicted paedophile had recorded sex tapes of Prince Andrew, Bill Clinton and Richard Branson.
The trove of files also revealed allegations that Giuffre was forced to have sex with a well-known PM and Victoria’s Secret tycoon, billionaire Les Wexner “multiple times” in New Mexico and New York.
When asked whether it was more than five, she said “possibly” – although she confirmed it was definitely less than ten.
And dozens of haunting photos taken at Epstein’s private “Paedo Island” show him and Maxwell hosting famous pals and scantily-clad young girls and women.
The previously unreleased pictures showed them posing at the late Epstein’s US Virgin Island home in 2006.
Maxwell has been imprisoned since July 2020 despite attempts by her defence counsel to have her released on bail.
She was sentenced to 20 years in prison at the federal court in the Southern District of New York in June 2022.
The socialite indicated her desire to appeal shortly after her conviction, with her lawyers claiming victims had “faded, distorted and motivated memories”.
Her appeal is scheduled to be heard in November next year.
