Prince Andrew Emerges From Hiding After Ghislaine Maxwell's Guilty Verdict, Stony-Faced Royal Looks Worried His Pal Could 'Name Names'
Dec. 31 2021, Published 11:11 a.m. ET
Prince Andrew has broken cover for the first time since his disgraced pal, Ghislaine Maxwell, was convicted of sex trafficking.
The 61-year-old embattled Duke of York was just photographed in the driver's seat of his car, wearing a canary yellow collared shirt under a dark jacket. The look on his stony face was that of worry and concern.
Andrew was seen leaving his Royal Lodge home and headed for Windsor Castle, where he was set to have lunch with Queen Elizabeth II.
It's unclear how involved – if at all – the Queen is in the Duke's current legal crisis.
As RadarOnline.com reported, his team is scrambling after learning that Maxwell was found guilty of recruiting, grooming and trafficking underage girls for late billionaire and accused pedophile Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse for a span of at least 10 years beginning in 1994.
During that time – more specifically, in 2001 – is when Andrew's rape accuser, Virginia Roberts-Giuffre, claims Epstein loaned her out for sex with the sovereign prince on three separate occasions beginning when she was just 17.
Andrew and his attorneys have been trying for months to convince United States District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Lewis Kaplan to toss Giuffre's civil lawsuit. She will decide on Jan. 4 whether to grant the Duke's request or allow Giuffre to pursue her claims in court.
Allegedly fearing that Maxwell is now about to sing like a canary in the hopes of receiving less than the maximum prison sentence of 65 years, Andrew's team is trying desperately to strategize.
According to U.K.-based news publication The Mirror, the royal's lawyers have been "locked in emergency talks" since Wednesday night, immediately after Maxwell's jury handed down its conviction in a New York federal court. Andrew's team is allegedly considering calling on one of Maxwell's victims and another witness from her criminal trial to help him in his civil case.
It's important to note that in the U.S., the burden of proof in criminal cases is far higher than that needed in civil cases.
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According to the outlet, the Duke's attorneys feel Maxwell's trial was "disastrous" for Giuffre, who did not testify despite her insistence that she was Epstein's longtime "teen sex slave."
They also believe testimony provided during the proceedings "weakened" her claims.
As we've reported, Andrew's legal team has long tried to portray Giuffre as a criminal accomplice who procured "slutty girls" for Epstein to abuse.
During Maxwell's trial, one of her four victims named Carolyn testified that she was introduced to Epstein via Giuffre, not Maxwell.
Carolyn is one of the two witnesses from the trial that the Duke's lawyers are allegedly considering calling on to testify should his case go that route.
The other is Juan Alessi, Epstein's former butler at his Palm Beach mansion, who previously said that he never saw Andrew with his accuser.
Additionally, Andrew's attorneys are also apparently very focused on why Giuffre, now 38, was not called by the prosecution to testify during Maxwell's trial, given her knowledge of the late convicted sex offender and his madam.
The royal's legal team allegedly believes prosecutors feared that apparent inconsistencies in Giuffre's story might not have been helpful to them.
