Prince Andrew also said that he was his business partner or something of that nature, and that he was learning a lot from Epstein. I think that much is true.
It could be that Prince Andrew is being specifically targeted because he is a son of the Queen, who controls vast resources. Once Prince Andrew outlived his usefulness in whatever business venture they had together, it was time to go for the gold.
It may have been easier or less risky for Epstein just convince Prince Andrew to take a picture with a girl who "wants a picture with him" than to reveal himself in any manner by offering her services.
If the story is true, on the other hand, and Prince Andrew did do it, I am still fairly certain that they are going all out, contacting police and newspapers and giving interviews, to make it as public as possible so that the Queen is forced to step in. It is quite possible that all of the parties involved are bad people.
Well being as I am an Englishman and know more about the royals than the average merkin, let me square a few things away.
The Duke of York is the 3rd child of the Queen. He is and has always been pretty unimportant, more so once William and Harry were born. Even less so now William has 3 children. He's 8th in line to the throne now.
He wasn't a business partner of Epstein. The Duke of York doesn't really have many important businesses. His brother Charles has a huge estate to make money from called the Cornish Duchy, but the Duke of York has sod all by comparison. He's not going to be king next. Andrew is actually a business emissary. He is supposed to promote UK businesses around the world, much like an ambassador. But rather than be an ambassador to say India, he's ambassador to everywhere, promoting only business. He's also shit at it. Has always been shit at it. Adds no value whatsoever.
Andrew has a number of personality traits that make him terrible for a public relations job. The first is that he's arrogant. The second is that he is a narcissist. The third is that he's not very bright. The fourth being that he is deeply unpleasant.
He has been hated wherever he has gone. The navy couldn't wait to get rid of him.
I doubt very much anyone is targeting Andrew to get at the Queen. She's bullet proof. And she'd throw him under the bus to protect the dynasty in a heartbeat. There is very little 'gold' in showing the DoY for the arsehole that he is. Everyone already knows he is an arsehole. He's right up there with Meghan Markle for unpopularity amongst the public.
https://www.iheart.com/content/2019-11-04-meghan-markle-prince-andrew-are-most-unpopular-royals-in-new-poll/Yeah, sorry America, we hate her.
As for forcing the Queen to step in, she's not going to. She has a mantra that Andrew would have done well to adhere to ... "never complain, never explain". She's not going to comment. She never comments. And if Andrew hadn't commented, Twitter wouldn't have been chewing his arse off yesterday.
He isn't going to be prosecuted. He could spend an afternoon shooting commuters at Trafalgar square and he's not going to prison. Its like hoping Tony Blair will be tried for war crimes. It will be deemed "not in the public interest" to pursue such and important person. But the Queen won't be getting involved. She'd let him hang before she'd intervene.