Latest Epstein accuser calls on Prince Andrew to talk to U.S. authorities

[November 19, 2019]  By Brendan Pierson

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A woman who accuses Jeffrey Epstein of sexually abusing her as a child on Monday said Britain’s Prince Andrew should tell U.S. authorities what he knows about the financier.

"Prince Andrew, and any others who were close to Epstein, should come forward and give a statement under oath on what information they have," the woman, calling herself Jane Doe 15, said at a news conference with her lawyer Gloria Allred.

The woman on Monday became the latest of more than a dozen women to sue Epstein's estate, saying in her lawsuit that he subjected her to a "vicious, prolonged sexual assault" at his New Mexico ranch when she was 15.

Epstein, 66, hanged himself in jail in August while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges. He had pleaded not guilty. Two days earlier he signed a will and put his estimated $577 million estate into a trust.

The financier once counted among his friends U.S. President Donald Trump, former President Bill Clinton and Prince Andrew.

In an interview on Saturday, Prince Andrew denied having sex with Virginia Giuffre, another of Epstein's alleged victims, who said in a previously filed lawsuit that she was trafficked by Epstein and forced to have sex with Prince Andrew when she was 17.

Lawyers for the estate's executors could not be reached for comment.

Epstein's brother and his lawyers have questioned a medical examiner's conclusion that his death was a suicide. Doe on Monday wore a bracelet with the words, "Epstein didn't kill himself."

"Jane Doe 15," a 31-year-old unidentified woman, who accuses the late financier Jeffrey Epstein of sexually abusing her when she was a child, speaks at a news conference in Los Angeles, California, November 18, 2019. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

Doe, who grew up in a poor family in the Midwest, met Epstein's secretary during a 2004 school trip to New York City. The secretary later invited her to view a magic show in Las Vegas and then fly to Epstein's New Mexico ranch in his private jet, the lawsuit said.

The secretary said Epstein was interested in helping girls who were in difficult circumstances, and when Doe arrived, Epstein summoned her to give him a massage alone, and then sexually assaulted her, the lawsuit said.

The executors Darren Indyke and Richard Kahn last week said they would seek to create a compensation fund for victims. The proposal must be approved by a court in the U.S. Virgin Islands, which is overseeing the estate.

(Reporting by Brendan Pierson in New York; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Howard Goller)

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