Focus turns to Prince Andrew after latest arrest in Jeffrey Epstein sex abuse case

US Attorney Audrey Strauss has ramped-up the pressure on the UK's Prince Andrew after accusing him of failing to cooperate with their Jeffrey Epstein investigation.

Britain's Prince Andrew recently hit back at claims he failed to cooperate with US authorities investigating the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Source: EPA

The US prosecutor investigating Jeffrey Epstein's sex crimes said she would welcome the testimony of Britain's Prince Andrew following the arrest of socialite Ghislaine Maxwell in the case Thursday.

"We would like to have the benefit of his statement," said Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York Audrey Strauss, referring to Queen Elizabeth II's second son.

Prince Andrew, 60, vehemently denies claims he had sex with a 17-year-old girl procured by Epstein.

Her office has accused the British royal of failing to cooperate with their investigation into his former friend Epstein and the late financier's accomplices, an allegation the prince denies.

British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell in 2000. Source: Getty Images

Maxwell was arrested by FBI agents in New Hampshire on Thursday morning and charged with sex trafficking minors for her ex-boyfriend Epstein, who killed himself in prison last year while awaiting trial. 

Since the late 66-year-old financier's arrest last year much speculation has swirled around Maxwell, casting her as an international woman of mystery with close ties to both British royalty and US politicians.

The French-born, Oxford-educated holder of multiple passports seemingly vanished last summer after Epstein's shock death while awaiting trial, which authorities deemed a suicide.

Epstein's accusers described Maxwell as the registered sex offender's right-hand confidante, acting both as paramour and madam at the behest of the multi-millionaire's proclivities.

Donald and Melania Trump, Jeffrey Epstein, and British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell pose together at the Mar-a-Lago club in 2000. Source: Getty

Together the pair allegedly crafted a sex-trafficking ring to procure young girls for Epstein, who, according to 2,000 chilling pages of court documents released just before his death, claimed a "biological" need for sex three times a day.

The plaintiffs in his case - some poor and underage at the time of the alleged abuses in the early 2000s - said Epstein's "recruiters" approached them outside their schools or at their workplaces.

Now prosecutors accuse Maxwell of taking girls as young as 14 under her wing in the mid-1990s, later cajoling them into offering Epstein nude massages and eventual sex acts.