Britain's Prince Andrew has been requested to fight back with "every ounce of energy" against the allegations made in a US court, accusing him of having sexual relations with a minor girl.
Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz -- who is also named in the court papers -- said the claims against him were part of a pattern of "made-up stories" by the woman and her lawyers against prominent people.
Dershowitz said he would not rest until he had shown that the claims regarding his conduct were false and he advised the Duke of York to do everything in his power to clear his name.
"My only feeling is, if she has lied about me, which I know to an absolute certainty she has, she should not be believed about anyone else," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
"We know she's lied about other public figures including a former prime minister and others who she claims to have participated in sexual activities with, so I think it must be presumed all her allegations against Prince Andrew were false as well.
"You cannot allow these allegations to hang above you. The first question you have to ask yourself when you are charged with a crime like this is 'Is there any conceivable possibility you did it?' and if the answer to that is 'no', you have to fight back with every resource and ounce of energy available to you."
Buckingham Palace has taken the unusual step of releasing a strongly-worded statement categorically denying any impropriety by Andrew with under-age minors.
The woman claims that between 1999 and 2002 she "was forced to have sexual relations with this prince when she was a minor" in London, New York and on a private Caribbean island owned by Epstein.
The accusation is reportedly contained in a motion filed in a Florida court this week which is part of a lawsuit over how federal prosecutors handled the case of Epstein, who was sentenced to 18 months in prison in 2008 for soliciting a minor for prostitution.
Meanwhile, Ghislaine Maxwell, an associate of Epstein, branded claims against her as "untrue" and "obvious lies" after she was reportedly named in the US court papers by the woman.
Miss Maxwell, the daughter of the late newspaper tycoon Robert Maxwell, has previously denied any wrongdoing and said in 2011 she would take legal action over some of the reporting of the story.
Her spokesman said: "The allegations made... Against Ghislaine Maxwell are untrue. The original allegations are not new and have been fully responded to and shown to be untrue.
