Prince Andrew groped young woman's breast at Epstein house, court files allege

Prince Andrew was accused in court documents of touching a young woman’s breast at the Manhattan mansion of Jeffrey Epstein, the wealthy financier now facing federal sex trafficking charges in New York.

The allegation was contained within a tranche of just unsealed court papers in a defamation case involving Ghislaine Maxwell, a British socialite and media heiress accused of procuring underage girls for Epstein and his social circle of the rich, famous and powerful.

Maxwell was sued by Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre in 2015. Giuffre alleged that Maxwell defamed her by claiming she was a liar. Giuffre had also alleged that Epstein coerced her into sexual encounters with Prince Andrew.

Buckingham Palace has repeatedly denied Giuffre’s allegations. In a highly unusual statement issued in 2015, Buckingham Palace said “any suggestion of impropriety with underage minors is categorically untrue” and explicitly denied Prince Andrew ever had sexual contact with Giuffre.

“It is emphatically denied that the Duke of York had any form of sexual contact or relationship with [Giuffre]. The allegations made are false and without any foundation,” the royal household later added.

Documents filed by Giuffre’s lawyers cite a deposition of Joanna Sjoberg, who also accused Maxwell of bringing her to Epstein.

Sjoberg’s deposition testimony, Giuffre’s lawyers said, described allegations involving Prince Andrew.

“Ms Sjoberg also testified about sexual acts that occurred with her, Prince Andrew, and Ms Giuffre, when she and [Maxwell] were staying at Epstein’s Manhattan mansion,” Giuffre’s lawyers said in the document, which was filed in January 2017.

Sjoberg testified, per court documents: “I just remember someone suggesting a photo, and they told us to go get on the couch. And so Andrew and Virginia sat on the couch, and they put the puppet, the puppet on her lap. And so then I sat on Andrew’s lap, and I believe on my own volition, and they took the puppet’s hands and put it on Virginia’s breast, and so Andrew put his on mine.”

Giuffre’s lawyers said: “Ms Sjoberg’s testimony corroborates Ms Giuffre’s account of how defendant recruited her (and others) under a ruse of a legitimate job in order to bring them into the household to have sex with Epstein.”

Giuffre has alleged that Epstein began sexually abusing her when she was 16.

The document also contains a photo which, Guiffre’s attorneys say, shows Andrew “with his hand around Ms Giuffre’s bare waist while she was a minor child, while posing with [Maxwell], inside [Maxwell’s] house in London.”

The lawyers said in the papers: “This particular photograph corroborates Ms Giuffre’s claims, and there is no other reasonable explanation why an American child should be in the company of adults not her kin, in the London house owned by the girlfriend of a now convicted sex offender.”

Maxwell’s lawyer did not respond to three requests for comment. Giuffre’s attorneys did not comment. Epstein’s lawyers did not respond to requests for comment.

Maxwell has denied the allegations.

The southern district of New York, which is prosecuting Epstein for alleged sex trafficking, said: “We’re not a party to this litigation so we can’t comment.” Epstein, who has been jailed since his arrest, has pleaded not guilty in the case.

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Virat Kohli unhappy with Cricket World Cup format after semi-final exit

Virat Kohli has suggested the International Cricket Council may want to consider changing the format of the World Cup after India’s dramatic semi-final exit.

India unleashed the fury of one billion fanatical cricket fans back home when they stumbled to an 18-run defeat by New Zealand at Old Trafford despite topping the table during the tournament’s protracted round-robin group stage.

The ICC, at the behest of the Indian board and broadcasters, ensured such an occurrence would never happen again by extending the first-round stage at World Cups; each team were guaranteed a minimum of nine matches at the tournament this year.

Now Kohli has suggested the latter stages should be tweaked as well in the format for the World Cup in 2023, to be held in India.

Asked whether he would like to see the tournament follow the model of the Indian Premier League, in which teams who finish top in the regular season get another chance to reach the final if they lose their first play‑off match, the India captain said: “Maybe. If topping the table means anything. I think these things can come into consideration, looking at the magnitude of this tournament. That is a really valid point. You never know when that is going to be implemented.

“You finish No 1 in the table and then a spell of bad cricket and you are out of the tournament completely. But you have to accept it.”

Kohli admitted he was heartbroken by the defeat after India had won eight of their nine group matches, losing only against England. “It doesn’t matter what you have done before that. It’s a fresh day, fresh start, and if you are not good enough you go home. So you have to accept that.

“I’m very disappointed. We played outstanding cricket throughout this tournament and to just go out on the basis of 45 minutes of bad cricket is saddening and it breaks your heart because you have worked so hard throughout the tournament to build momentum.”

In the mayhem at the start of their innings India crashed to 24 for four inside 10 overs before a century stand for the seventh-wicket between Ravindra Jadeja and MS Dhoni brought them close to chasing down 240.

“I think we are sad but we are not devastated because of the kind of cricket that we played in this tournament,” Kohli said. “We were not good enough and that is the nature of this tournament. A bad day in the knockout stage and you are out. We didn’t stand up to the challenge and we were not good enough under pressure. We have to accept the failure as it shows on the scoreboard.”