Prince Andrew will not be prosecuted over his relationship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein unless Ghislaine Maxwell testifies against him, a lawyer told Newsweek's The Royal Report podcast.
The Duke of York settled out of court for an undisclosed sum over Virginia Giuffre's civil lawsuit, which accused him of sexual assault, a criminal offense under New York Penal Law.
However, he has not been arrested or charged and the prince's lawyers have previously said the Department of Justice confirmed they view him as a witness not a target in their Epstein investigation.
Prince Andrew has denied having had sex with Giuffre. He told the BBC in November 2019: "I can tell you categorically I don't remember meeting her at all. I do not remember a photograph being taken and I've said consistently and frequently that we never had any sort of sexual contact whatever."
Neama Rahmani, president of West Coast Trial Lawyers, told Newsweek's The Royal Report podcast: "The prince hasn't cooperated with the U.S. attorney in New York. He's made that clear.
"You have a victim who is certainly willing to come forward. But you need some sort of corroborating evidence.
"You need a Ghislaine Maxwell, you need something else to meet that higher burden in a criminal case, it's beyond a reasonable doubt, you need 12 out of 12 jurors.
"So without that, I don't think we're going to see a prosecution of the prince here in the United States."
Rahmani said the government do not appear to believe Giuffre will be a strong witness at trial since she was not called in the prosecution of Maxwell, convicted on five out of six counts in her sex-trafficking trial in December.
The former federal prosecutor, who had fought legal battles against Prince Andrew's lawyer Andrew Brettler previously, said: "Criminal charges are certainly what everyone is interested in when it comes to Prince Andrew.
"When it comes to his case I think the government is going to need something more than Virginia Giuffre's testimony.
"They didn't put her on the stand in the Maxwell case, so she's not going to be the strongest witness in a criminal trial.
"The prince has obviously denied, and will continue to deny, having any sexual contact with her."
Prince Andrew vowed to cooperate with U.S. authorities in November 2019, when he stepped back from public life and the DOJ first requested his testimony early in 2020.
His lawyers offered a statement but there has been no public confirmation of Queen Elizabeth II's son satisfying the request for live evidence.
Rahmani said: "I don't expect him to come anywhere near the United States any time soon because there's a possibility that he may be arrested.
"I think it's unlikely that he would be indicted and extradited to the United States, it's certainly a possibility."
