Prince Andrew’s Sexual Abuse Accuser, Virginia Giuffre’s Settlement With Jeffrey Epstein Made Public
A 2009 settlement agreement between the late financier, Jeffrey Epstein and Virginia Giuffre, who accused him of sexual abuse, was made public on Monday as part of Giuffre’s civil lawsuit against Britain’s Prince Andrew.
It shows that Epstein paid Giuffre $500,000 to drop the case without any admission of liability or fault. It provided a release for ‘any other person or entity who could have been included as a potential defendant’ against various claims made by Giuffre.
Giuffre had in August 2021 sued Andrew, saying she was “lent out” for underage sex by late US financier Jeffrey Epstein who killed himself in a New York prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking minors.
She alleged that he sexually abused her at the London home of socialite Ghislaine Maxwell more than 20 years ago, when she was under 18.
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Giuffre also claims Andrew abused her at Epstein’s New York mansion and on Little St. James, Epstein’s private island in the US Virgin Islands.
However, Andrew, 62, has vehemently denied claims he had sex with Giuffre, and said he has no recollection of meeting her, but the allegations have damaged the British royal family.
Meanwhile, the 2009 agreement was filed under seal in two court cases that pit Giuffre against Prince Andrew and attorney Alan Dershowitz.
Giuffre, who at the time had the last name Roberts, has claimed that Epstein arranged for her to have sex with the men on multiple occasions when she was a minor.
US District, Judge Lewis Kaplan will now have to decide whether that clause blocks Giuffre’s lawsuit against the royal.
Lawyers for the Duke have claimed that the agreement would prevent Giuffre from continuing the battery lawsuit she filed against him in 2020 because it absolved him of liability for future cases.
‘Because Prince Andrew is a senior member of the British royal family, he falls into one of the expressly identified categories of persons, i.e., royalty, released from liability under the Release Agreement, along with politicians, academicians, businessmen, and others allegedly associated with Epstein,’ his attorney, Andrew Brettler, wrote in his October 29 motion to dismiss.
His name does not explicitly appear as a party, the copy unsealed on Monday shows.
Attorney David Boies said;
As we have said from the beginning, the release is irrelevant to Ms. Giuffre’s claim against Prince Andrew. The release does not mention Prince Andrew. He did not even know about it.
Andrew has denied the allegations and is seeking to dismiss the lawsuit. A hearing over his motion to dismiss is scheduled for Tuesday.
If the Duke’s lawyers are unsuccessful, or the case is not settled, he could face a trial date near the end of the year.
The long-running allegations against Prince Andrew have already dramatically tarnished his public standing, and he stepped back from royal duties in late 2019.
Meanwhile, Ghislaine Maxwell was found guilty of sex abuse and trafficking underage girls on Thursday.
