Jeffrey Epstein pleaded Fifth Amendment 500 times, was asked if he blackmailed Prince Andrew over underage sex and refused to say he knew Ghislaine Maxwell in legal depositions

Pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein refused to answer questions about whether he tried to blackmail the Duke of York after his alleged sexual encounter with Virginia Giuffre, court documents show.

Epstein refused to answer nearly all questions, known as pleading the Fifth Amendment, during his interview under oath as part of Giuffre’s civil claim against disgraced British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell.

He was questioned about whether he and Maxwell ordered Giuffre to have sex with Andrew in 2001 and whether information gathered as part of the legal action “could tarnish the duke’s reputation.”

Andrew withdrew from public life after the furor over his friendship with Epstein, paying millions to settle a civil sexual assault case with Giuffre, a woman he claimed he never met.

He was ostracized from 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 strongly denies all allegations.

The transcript of Epstein’s deposition was released as part of the final set of documents to be released as part of Giuffre’s 2015 civil claim against Maxwell.

A total of 215 documents were ‘unsealed’ over the course of five days after the media claimed it was in the public interest to remove redactions that concealed the names of individuals.

Giuffre’s 2016 statement was also released and included her previously reported claims that Epstein paid her $15,000 to have sex with Andrew, and allegations that she was trafficked to another “foreign” prince, as well as to a well-known Prime Minister who she refused to name. concerned about her safety.

“I did receive $15,000. I don’t know what that means in pounds,” Giuffre said, before being questioned by a lawyer about whether she had paid tax on the amount, to which Giuffre replied “no.”

During Epstein’s deposition, Giuffre’s counsel Paul Cassell asked: “In fact, would it 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 refused to answer, the lawyer continued: “What would have happened to Virginia if she had refused to have sex with Prince Andrew?”

After another refusal to answer the question, Cassell then asked Epstein: “Shortly after Prince Andrew and Virginia had sex, Virginia gave you a full report on the details of the sex, where?”

Cassell also said: “Is it not true, sir, that Prince Andrew thanked you for making Virginia available for sexual purposes?”

Epstein declined to answer either question.

When questioning Epstein about the alleged blackmail plot, Cassell said: ‘You had previously instructed Virginia to give you a full report on the details of what men like Prince Andrew had done to her so that you would have blackmail material you could use. ?’

Epstein was also questioned about what he knew about Andrew’s “sexual preferences,” and whether Giuffre had “discussed specific behaviors that Prince Andrew requested before intercourse.”

The disgraced financier again refused to answer questions.

Later in his interview, Epstein was also asked, “As far as you know, Prince Andrew had sex with Virginia multiple times, right?”

Before concluding his questioning, Cassell said: “This trial has the potential to tarnish Prince Andrew’s reputation, doesn’t it?”

Epstein declined to answer the questions.

Giuffre described in her statement how she was trafficked by Epstein and Maxwell to the south of France to a world leader who was a “prince.”

She said she did not know his name, but added: “He spoke a foreign language, he spoke English too, but I’m not so sure where he came from… I was introduced to him as a prince.”

Giuffre also claimed that former US President Bill Clinton visited Epstein’s private Caribbean island twice.

She said they had dinner together, but “Bill Clinton, he never had a sexual relationship with me. “I’ve never seen him interact sexually with anyone else.”

Giuffre was asked during the deposition, “Is Bill Clinton a witness to the sexual abuse of minors?”

She replied, “Yes, he would be a witness because he knew what my goal was with Jeffrey and he visited Jeffrey’s island…There are pictures of naked girls all over the house in all his houses and it is something that Jeffrey Epstein was not. shy to admit it to people.”

Clinton has denied ever visiting the island.

Giuffre also told how she burned a “little book” she wrote detailing her alleged 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 original pages about the duke.

But she said she decided in 2013 not to burn photos in her then-Florida home because “they are evidence.”

‘I wanted to get rid of it. It was very painful stuff,” she said.

She added, “I was burning like memories, thoughts, dreams that I had, just anything related to the abuse I suffered, and there was a lot of it in there.

“My husband is quite spiritual, so he said the best thing to do was burn them.”

Epstein was found dead in his cell at a federal prison in Manhattan in August 2019 as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges. His death was ruled a suicide.

Maxwell has been jailed since July 2020, despite attempts by her defense counsel to have her released on bail.

She was sentenced to 20 years in prison in June 2022 in federal court in the Southern District of New York.

The socialite indicated shortly after her conviction that she wanted to appeal, with her lawyers claiming that the victims had “faded, distorted and motivated memories.”

Her appeal is expected to be heard in November next year.