Britain's Prince Andrew among global figures under scrutiny after Epstein's death

LONDON — Britain's Prince Andrew, one of Queen Elizabeth II’s four children, is among the prominent figures to be engulfed in the uproar following Jeffrey Epstein’s death in a Manhattan jail.

On Sunday, Epstein’s death by apparent suicide as he was being held on sex trafficking charges featured in news bulletins and newspaper front pages outside of the U.S. — in part thanks to a number of high-profile international personalities with ties to the disgraced financier who were mentioned in the newly released deposition of one of his alleged victims.

Andrew, the queen’s 59-year-old second-born son, was named in court documents released on Friday.

The court documents relate to a 2015 defamation lawsuit that Epstein’s alleged victim, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, filed against British socialite and former longtime member of Epstein’s inner circle, Ghislaine Maxwell.

In her 2016 deposition included in the documents released on Friday, Johanna Sjoberg — a woman who alleged she was forced to have sex with Epstein by Maxwell — said that Andrew touched her breast while they sat on a couch in Epstein's Manhattan apartment in 2001.

When NBC News asked Buckingham Palace to comment on the allegations that emerged on Friday, a royal spokesperson said: “This relates to proceedings in the United States, to which The Duke of York is not a party. Any suggestion of impropriety with underage minors is categorically untrue.”

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