Abuse scandal
Prince Andrew fails with application against civil suit
Prince Andrew still faces civil lawsuit. Photo: Chris Jackson / PA Wire / dpa
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Virginia Giuffre accuses the Queen’s second eldest son of having sexually abused her several times as a minor. Andrew denies everything. A US court now rejects its objections.
Britain’s Prince Andrew has failed in his attempt to halt a US abuse allegation lawsuit. A court in New York rejected objections from Andrew’s lawyers, according to a court document that was available to the German press agency on Wednesday.
Attorneys for the Queen’s second eldest son had hoped to nip the lawsuit in the bud and were referring to a settlement plaintiff Virginia Giuffre reached in 2009 with US multimillionaire Jeffrey Epstein.
Giuffre accuses Andrew, now 61, of having abused her several times through Epstein’s mediation. She claims to have previously been the victim of an abuse ring set up by the multimillionaire and his ex-partner Ghislaine Maxwell. Maxwell was recently found guilty of several counts in a criminal case by a court and faces a long prison sentence.
In the deal, it was agreed that no other people could be prosecuted in connection with the allegations of abuse. In return, Giuffre received $ 500,000 (the equivalent of around 330,000 euros in November 2009). But the judge ruled that the agreement in the present case did not prevent a lawsuit: The Epstein-Giuffre agreement did not clearly indicate that the parties involved intended to protect Prince Andrew.
There are no criminal investigations against Andrew so far. The prince resigned his official duties for the royal family in 2019 because of the allegations. Shortly before, he had tried to refute the allegations in a BBC interview, but could not convince.