The Duke of York is a “person of interest” in the US inquiry into notorious late financier Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.

According to the Guardian, Epstein’s friendship with Andrew is being investigated as part of a possible co-conspirator probe, although the duke’s legal team has declined to comment.

According to the source, investigators want to speak with Andrew, Queen Elizabeth’s second son, regarding his association with Epstein as part of their investigation into suspected co-conspirators. He is at the very least seen as a possible witness as a person of interest.

Last week, rape victim Virginia Roberts Giuffre filed a lawsuit against the UK royal, amid allegations that he has obstructed US investigators’ attempts to question him.

The word “person of interest” may be viewed as a “ratcheting up of the pressure to try and heap public opprobrium on him to the level where he has to give an account of what it is that actually occurred,” according to lawyer Mark Stephens.

The term “person of interest” has no legal bearing.

“Normally you would say ‘we believe he has information which would assist our inquiries’, or ‘assisting the law enforcement with their inquiries’, or ‘we only see him as a witness but he has important evidence to give.’ All of these are formulations and phrases which are restricted to someone in the capacity of a witness,” Stephens explained.

“In my judgment, lexicon, a person of interest is different. That is saying we believe that there may have been some wrongdoing but we don’t know. And so our minds are still open but we need to speak to him in order to either include or eliminate him from our investigations.”

He added: “What they are trying to do, both in the civil and the criminal case, is to pile on reputational pressure so that it becomes impossible, reputationally, for him.”

Andrew had “sought to falsely portray himself to the public as eager and willing to cooperate,” according to prosecutors, despite the fact that he had provided no interview to federal officials and had repeatedly refused requests to speak with investigators.

“The Duke of York has on at least three occasions this year offered his assistance as a witness to the US Department of Justice,” the prince’s attorneys said in June last year. They went on to say that the Department of Justice had “advised us that the duke is not and has never been a “target” of their criminal investigations into Epstein,” and that they had instead requested his secret, voluntary cooperation.

Nonetheless, Manhattan investigators do not expect to be allowed to question the UK royal on the spot, according to the source.

“He doesn’t seem to want to talk to us,” the source said.

Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who claims she was abused by Epstein, filed a legal action against Andrew in federal court in Manhattan last week. Giuffre claims Andrew pushed her to have unwanted intercourse three times when she was 17 at Maxwell’s London house and in the United States. The claims have been refuted by Andrew.

While awaiting trial on allegations of trafficking children, Epstein committed suicide in 2019.

Last week, Britain’s top constable announced that investigators are re-examining an earlier contentious decision not to properly investigate accusations in the UK, where Giuffre claims Andrew first abused her in Maxwell’s then-London house in 2001.

Ghislaine Maxwell pleaded not guilty to accusations that she supplied underage girls for Epstein to sexually assault between 1994 and 2004. She is scheduled to go on trial in November.