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More victims of Jeffrey Epstein have come forward, says lawyer

<span>Photograph: Patrick McMullan/Getty</span>
Photograph: Patrick McMullan/Getty

More victims of the deceased financier Jeffrey Epstein, including women from the UK, have come forward in recent days following the arrest the British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, a lawyer for the accusers has said.

Maxwell, 58, a friend of Prince Andrew, is due to appear in court in the US this week on charges of helping Epstein recruit women to sexually abuse. Speaking on Monday morning, Gloria Allred, who represents 16 of Epstein’s accusers, said others had sought legal representation to pursue compensation against his estate.

“I now have more victims contacting me who’ve never come forward to anybody, except me and maybe they told one relative what happened to them,” Allred told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “I do represent some people in Europe, and the UK as well, who have reached out, and they would like to see compensation.”

Maxwell, who visited Epstein at his home in New York and elsewhere, has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

Andrew has also categorically denied claims by one accuser, Virginia Giuffre (née Roberts), that he had sex with her after she was trafficked by Epstein when she was 17 and a minor.

With speculation over whether Maxwell could seek a plea deal, agreeing to implicate others apparently involved in Epstein’s crimes, Giuffre said Andrew should be “panicking”.

“Prince Andrew should be panicking at the moment because Ghislaine doesn’t really care about anyone else but Ghislaine. I think he would be quite shook up,” Giuffre, 36, told the Australian TV show 60 Minutes on Sunday.

Responding to Giuffre’s comments, Allred said: “I don’t know if he will be panicking. But he certainly can never know whether Miss Maxwell would in fact decide to cooperate in exchange for a plea to a lesser crime that she is charged with.”

Under such a deal, Maxwell would have to answer everything she is asked truthfully. “And that would be Prince Andrew. What she saw him do, or observed or knew he did, when they were together, in reference to Jeffrey Epstein,” said Allred.

“Prince Andrew, certainly, when he was in Manhattan, saw young girls coming and going. When he was there in the house, he couldn’t miss it. They were coming and going constantly. What did he think they were doing there? Why were they there? Did he speak to them? Was he involved with them at all, or even with adult young women there?” said Allred.

Andrew has previously said that during his friendship with Epstein he saw nothing suspicious.

On Monday, Alicia Arden, an actor who said she was groped by Epstein in 1997, spoke at a Los Angeles press conference about her experience and the aftermath. In emotional testimony with Allred by her side, Arden, now 51, recounted how she thought she was meeting Epstein for a Victoria’s Secret modeling interview when he forced her to undress and assaulted her.

She was 27 at the time and reported the incident to police in Santa Monica, who blamed her for the incident, she said: “They said I went up to the hotel room willingly and that I intimidate men because of my appearance. I told police that I did not ask or give permission to be touched or to have Epstein start taking my clothes off. I thought I was going to a legitimate audition.”

Her experience with male officers, who told her she was “very pretty”, left her feeling “violated all over again”, she recalled, adding that she pushed forward with a report anyway: “I knew what he did was wrong and I worried for myself and other women.”

Allred held up a blown-up copy of the police report at the press conference, which included her allegation that Epstein said “Let me manhandle you” during the encounter. Arden said police never followed up with her.

Santa Monica police did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday. When Arden first spoke up last year, the police department claimed to the AP that the case was closed because the victim did not want to move forward with prosecution, but Arden vehemently denied that she didn’t want to press charges, saying she was shocked to hear the police agency claim that today.

Reports in US media that Andrew’s legal team had contacted the Washington lobbyist Robert Stryk – who has links to Donald Trump – seeking help in dealing with the fallout from the Epstein scandal were denied on Monday. A source close to Andrew said: “This looks like a lobbying firm advertising. No engagements have been made or sought.” It is understood an introductory conversation took place but was not initiated by Andrew’s team and went no further.

Maxwell, arrested on Thursday at her $1m estate in New Hampshire, has been detained without bail after agreeing to be moved to New York. Prosecutors have said she is an “extreme risk of flight”, citing her wealth, with access to more than $20m in 15 bank accounts and three passports.

She has been indicted on multiple charges, including that she conspired to entice girls as young as 14 to engage in illegal sex acts with her former boyfriend Epstein from 1994 to 1997 at his residences in New York, Florida and New Mexico, and at Maxwell’s London residence. The charges carry a prison sentence of up to 35 years.