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SALT LAKE CITY — A 31-year-old woman who claims she was a teenage sex slave and forced to service high-profile clients such as Prince Andrew and attorney Alan Dershowitz has now repeated those claims under oath.
On Wednesday, the woman — referred to in court documents as Jane Doe No. 3 — made a declaration that was filed by her attorneys, including Paul Cassell, a University of Utah law professor and a former federal judge, in a Florida court.
For six years, Cassell and Florida attorney Brad Edwards have represented two women, known only as Jane Does Nos. 1 and 2, in a civil lawsuit against the U.S. government. The suit stems from a criminal investigation involving Jeffrey Epstein, a billionaire Wall Street investor accused of prostituting underage girls. Epstein was convicted on relatively minor state charges and served just over a year in jail starting in 2008. He is now a registered sex offender.
The attorneys recently tried to have two more women, listed only as Jane Doe No. 3 and Jane Doe No. 4, added to the lawsuit.
When it was stated in court documents that Jane Doe No. 3 claimed she was forced to have sex with several high-profile people including Dershowitz — one of the country's highest-profile attorneys — and the Duke of York, Britain's Prince Andrew, Dershowitz blasted Cassell in nationally TV interviews and called for his disbarment. Cassell responded by filing a defamation suit against Dershowitz.
Dershowitz sternly denies all the allegations against him and challenged Jane Doe No. 3 to repeat them in public so he could sue her for defamation.
Wednesday, Cassell submitted a sworn 14-page declaration from the woman who talked about her former life as a child sex slave.
"My life took a very different turn when adults began to be interested in having sex with me," she said, claiming she was 15 when she was recruited by Epstein.
In her declaration, the woman states, "I have recently seen a former Harvard law professor identified as Alan Dershowitz on television calling me a 'liar.' He is lying by denying that he had sex with me. That man is the same man that I had sex with at least six times," she stated.
Likewise, Buckingham Palace took the unusual step of releasing multiple statements on behalf of Prince Andrew denying the claims.
If these crimes are not prosecuted, despite my volunteering this information and cooperation, then it may deter other similar victims from coming forward.
–Jane Doe No. 3
"I have seen Buckingham Palace’s recent 'emphatic' denial that Prince Andrew had sexual contact with me. That denial is false and hurtful to me. I did have sexual contact with him as I have described here — under oath. Given what he knows and has seen, I was hoping that he would simply voluntarily tell the truth about everything. I hope my attorneys can interview Prince Andrew under oath about the contacts and that he will tell the truth," she wrote in court documents.
Although the declaration includes pictures of the woman when she was a teen, including one of her and the Duke of York together, the Deseret News is not releasing the name of the former child sex abuse victim.
The woman states that she was forced to have sex with "powerful men" whom she is "very fearful" of today, according to court documents. But she hopes her actions will encourage other women to step forward.
"If these crimes are not prosecuted, despite my volunteering this information and cooperation, then it may deter other similar victims from coming forward," she wrote.
"I have directed my attorneys, Bradley J. Edwards and Paul G. Cassell, to pursue all reasonable and legitimate means to have criminal charges brought against these powerful people for the crimes they have committed against me and other girls," she wrote. "Since I filed my motion in this case, my credibility has been attacked. I am telling the truth and will not let these attacks prevent me from exposing the truth of how I was trafficked for sex to many powerful people. These powerful people seem to think that they don't have to follow the same rules as everyone else."
Also on Wednesday, Cassell and Edwards filed their response to Dershowitz's motion for limited intervention in the federal case, asking a judge not to allow his "bullying tactics" in court and to deny the request.
