UK prince named in ‘underage sex slave’ case in US

A woman has alleged that she was repeatedly forced to have sexual relations with prince Andrew as part of a lawsuit in a Florida court that claims a US investment banker passed her around rich and powerful friends as a "sex slave" while she was still underage.

The accusation was made in a lawsuit brought by women who say they were exploited by Jeffrey Epstein, an American multi-millionaire who was convicted of soliciting sex with an underage girl in 2008, reports a British newspaper. The woman filed the case anonymously, and is understood to have been 17 at the time, which is considered a minor under Florida law.

The prince has previously denied any sexual contact with young women associated with Epstein or any knowledge of his behaviour. Buckingham Palace declined to comment on the allegations.

The case is directed towards federal prosecutors, and is part of an effort to expand an ongoing legal case, the daily reported. But it alleges that the woman "was forced to have sexual relations with this prince when she was a minor" in London, New York and on Epstein's Caribbean island.

Alan Dershowitz, a Harvard law professor and defence lawyer, is also named in the lawsuit. He told the newspaper that the allegations made against him were "totally false and made up".

Andrew's friendship with Epstein, who was sentenced to 18 months in prison for soliciting paid sex with a 14-year-old girl and is now a registered sex offender, has been a source of problems before. The Duke of York stood down from his role as the UK's special trade emissary in 2011, after his friendship with the banker provoked calls for him to step down.

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