Status: January 12th, 2022 5:00 p.m.
There are also serious allegations against Prince Andrew in the Jeffrey Epstein abuse scandal in the USA: He is said to have sexually abused a minor, but denies this. A US court now dismissed its objections.
Britain’s Prince Andrew has failed in his attempt to halt a US abuse allegation lawsuit. A court in New York rejected the objections of Andrew’s lawyers, as emerged from a court document that was available to the dpa news agency.
The Queen’s second eldest son’s lawyers had hoped to nip the lawsuit in the bud. They had referred to a settlement that plaintiff Virginia Giuffre had concluded in 2009 with US multimillionaire Jeffrey Epstein.
Multiple abuse allegation
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 – in November 2009 that was the equivalent of around 330,000 euros.
No criminal investigation so far
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 has been no criminal investigation 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.
Prince Andrew’s motion to dismiss abuse lawsuit has failed
Peter Mücke, ARD New York, January 12, 2022 5:54 p.m.