Prince Andrew
Plaintiff’s deal with Jeffrey Epstein
Prince Andrew denies all allegations.
© imago images / ZUMA Press
Virginia Giuffre accuses Prince Andrew of sexual abuse. How could a settlement with Jeffrey Epstein affect your lawsuit?
Virginia Giuffre, 38, accuses Prince Andrew, 61, of sexually abusing her when she was a minor. The Royal denies the allegations. As part of a lawsuit against Andrew, an out-of-court agreement between Giuffres and the late US millionaire and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein (1953-2019) from 2009 became public.
As among other things the British “BBC” reports, Epstein, who was found lifeless in his prison cell in the summer of 2019, allegedly paid Giuffre $ 500,000 to deter future lawsuits. The now 38-year-old agreed at the time not to accuse Epstein or other people who could be considered “potential defendants”. Andrew is not named in the agreement, however.
Can Prince Andrew be accused?
While Andrews’ lawyers said that the Royal could not be accused, the other side saw it differently. In her opinion, the out-of-court settlement is not relevant to the lawsuit against the 61-year-old. There should be another hearing on the case in New York on Tuesday.
Most recently, Epstein’s confidante, Ghislaine Maxwell, 60, was found guilty of five out of six counts of sex trafficking in minors. The prosecution accused Maxwell of having procured underage victims as Epstein’s right hand man for his sex ring. The British woman rejected the allegations and decided not to make a statement. The sentence is to be announced at a later date.