Maxwell repeats claim that Andrew picture is a fake

Ghislaine Maxwell has repeated her claim that a photograph showing Prince Andrew with Virginia Giuffre is “fake”.

- TOM WATLING

In an interview with the US Department of Justice, conducted last month, Maxwell said: “I believe it’s literally a fake photo.” The imprisoned former girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein also dismissed as “rubbish” Giuffre’s claims that she was paid to have a relationship with Prince Andrew and that he had sex with her at Maxwell’s London home.

The disgraced socialite claimed one of the motives behind the story was to attack the royal family.

Maxwell was interviewed by the deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche, over two days in Tallahassee, Florida, just a week before being moved to a minimum-security prison camp in Bryan, Texas.

While the name at the centre of the discussion on Prince Andrew had been redacted, it is circumstantially highly likely to be Giuffre, given the conversation, as well as the timelines and mention of an infamous photograph.