Epstein revelations: Prince Andrew trade role at risk

Prince Andrew is up to his neck in bad PR – and the 'water' rose higher still today as more details emerged of his unsuitable friend Jeffrey Epstein, the US billionaire and convicted child sex offender.

The Duke's situation is so dire that it looks likely he will lose his comfortable role as a trade ambassador for the UK. Asked if the Duke should keep the job, business secretary Vince Cable last night refused to comment – a political kiss of death.

What's more, the FBI has said it is reopening its investigations into Epstein, raising the alarming prospect of the Duke being asked to testify. The Mail on Sunday today speculates the Duke might claim diplomatic immunity to escape the witness box.

The trouble started when pictures emerged of Andrew walking with Epstein in New York's central park. The square-jawed, silver-haired billionaire certainly looks like a friend of princes: the snag was, he had just been released after 13 months in jail for soliciting prostitution from minors.

Now listed on the US sex offenders register, the 58-year-old was the subject of civil suits from as many as 20 other girls. At least 17 of these have since been settled out of court.

A spokesman for the palace claimed that the two men were not close and the meeting was their first since 2006. It then emerged that the Duke had asked Epstein to act as a creditor for his debt-stricken ex-wfe, Sarah, Duchess of York – hardly a request to make of a stranger.

Things got even worse for the Duke when a 2001 photograph surfaced of him with his arm around the bare midriff of blonde masseuse Virginia Roberts, then 17, who told the press she had been flown half-way around the world by Epstein to meet his friend.

While there is no suggestion that the Duke did anything improper on that or any other occasion, Roberts is one of the girls who alleged sexual impropriety by her former employer, Espstein - and the association does Andrew no favours.

Now the News of the World has published details of witness statements made by two of Epstein's other (blonde) employees, Sarah Kellen and Nadia Marcinkova, to US prosecutors last March after 12 of the civil suits had been settled out of court.

In the transcripts, the two women refuse to answer questions about Prince Andrew, falling back on their Fifth Amendment right to remain silent. Lawyer Spencer Kuvin asks Kellen: "Would you agree with me that Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein used to share underaged girls for sexual relations?"

Kellen replies: "On the instruction of my lawyer, I must invoke my Fifth Amendment privilege." The newspaper points out that the two women 'took the Fifth' for every question they were asked – not just those relating to the Prince – and there remains no evidence that he acted improperly or knew that Epstein had acted improperly.

A former servant of Epstein's, Juan Alessi, said this week that pool parties involving young women frolicking naked took place at Epstein's £4m Palm Beach mansion while the Duke was a guest there. The women were not underage and the duke himself was not naked, Alessi said.

There is such a thing as bad publicity, it would seem. The Sunday Telegraph reports that Andrew has been accused of tarnishing the monarchy with his friendship with Epstein.

While the Duke apparently severed all ties with the billionaire on Friday, it may not be enough to guarantee him his job. The Telegraph reveals that an ignominious fate may await Andrew: he could be sent as high commissioner to "one of Britain's smaller overseas territories, where he would be used to promote tourism". ·