cryptogon.com

The Bureau wants to interview Esptein’s former personal ‘masseuse’, Virginia Roberts, after she revealed last week that she was recruited as Epstein’s sex slave when she was just 15.

Last night, in an exclusive interview with The Mail on Sunday, Virginia confirmed she will fully co-operate with the new investigation, which could have serious implications for Epstein and embarrass Prince Andrew, who she met on three occasions.

‘I will talk to the FBI,’ Virginia said.‘I am anxious. I am still frightened of him because he has so much power. I had to put this behind me.

‘But in the end this is not for me. It’s because I’m afraid there are a lot of girls still doing what I did for him, eight years after I left. I want to be the one who breaks the chain.’

The news comes as the Government appeared to withdraw support for the Prince’s role as a trade envoy, with Business Secretary Vince Cable refusing to say whether he should stay in the post.

A source close to the inquiry said the FBI decided to reopen the case because of Virginia’s revelations to The Mail on Sunday last week.

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The new FBI investigation will undoubtedly be of grave concern to Prince Andrew, who was forced to accept that his continued friendship with the financier, a convicted child sex offender, was unwise.

On Friday, he severed all ties with Epstein – although the new investigation could reveal further damaging details of their association.

Virginia’s account of her meetings with the Prince was published under the restrictions of British libel laws, notoriously the most draconian in the Western world. There will be no such restraint on her testimony to FBI investigators.

It is highly likely that detectives will also wish to question the Prince as part of their investigation. If subpoenaed he may be forced to plead diplomatic immunity based on his role as business envoy for UK Trade and Investment. Last week David Cameron faced calls from the floor of the Commons to remove the Prince from his post.

If Andrew refuses to co-operate with US authorities he would, in all likelihood, be banned from entering the States, which would seriously affect his ability to fulfil his role as a trade envoy.

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It is believed the new investigation will centre on Epstein’s procuring of young girls and paying them to provide sexual favours for his business associates at his homes in New York, Florida, the US Virgin Islands and New Mexico.

Epstein’s palatial houses were secretly covered by a network of hidden video cameras, raising concerns that compromising footage exists of a number of rich and powerful individuals useful to Epstein’s work as a money manager.

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It is an astonishing roll call of names which shines a fascinating light into the world of Jeffrey Epstein and the powerful network he established both here and in America.

Jeffrey Epstein used the “black book” to log contact details of the girls that gave massages to him and his friends and those of his powerful and famous associates, such as Bill Clinton and Donald Trump.

A servant at the £4 million manor in Palm Beach, where Prince Andrew enjoyed daily massages during several stays, stole the journal and initially kept it secret from investigators. He is now in prison after attempting to sell it for $50,000 (£31,000).

Epstein, 58, was accused of sex offences by more than 20 under-aged girls. They alleged that after being recruited as masseuses by aides including Ghislaine Maxwell, daughter of the late tycoon Robert, they were seriously assaulted and then paid hundreds of dollars.

The billionaire financier, who attended The Queen’s birthday party in 2000, was sentenced to 18 months in prison in 2008, having secured a plea bargain that prevented full criminal trials. He later settled more than a dozen multi-million dollar civil lawsuits from his alleged victims out of court.

The previously undisclosed journal, however, “detailed the full scope and the extent of Epstein’s involvement with underage girls”, according to lawyers for several alleged victims.

It could not be confirmed last night whether the book contained contact details for the Duke. One lawyer for Epstein’s alleged victims said: “I would bet he is, because he is that good a friend”.

There is no suggestion that the Duke did anything wrong. However he has this week faced a string of questions about his judgment due to his association with a convicted child sex offender.

Epstein kept 21 different phone numbers for Mr Clinton, including some for his assistant and also “Clinton’s personal numbers”, the court papers state.

Alfredo Rodriguez, a servant who “saw numerous underage girls coming into Epstein’s mansion for purported ‘massages’,” took the journal and did not mention it to investigators.

“Because of the importance of the information in the journal to the civil cases, Mr Rodriguez called it ‘The Holy Grail’,” the court documents state.

He attempted to sell the book to lawyers for $50,000 (£31,000) in August 2009 – by which time Epstein had already been sentenced and released from jail.

The lawyers contacted the FBI, who sent an undercover agent to buy the book from Rodriguez. He was then arrested and charged with obstruction of justice.

Rodriguez, who said in sworn testimony that he was terrified of Miss Maxwell, also said he took the book as an “insurance policy” to prevent Epstein making him “disappear”.

He was sentenced to 18 months in prison – the same punishment Epstein received for his sex offences – in June last year. His wife, Patricia Dunn, told The Daily Telegraph that he was “sorry” for his error.

Dave Lee Brannon, an Assistant Public Defender who represented Rodriguez, said: “If this book had been produced when requested, Mr Epstein’s sentence may have been significantly different.”

Details of the journal emerged in a lawsuit brought in Florida by Epstein against Brad Edwards, a lawyer representing several alleged victims.

Epstein alleges Edwards was linked to a “Ponzi scheme” run by a colleague, which lured investors by falsely claiming Epstein had agreed to settle sex-offence lawsuits for hundreds of millions of dollars.