Secret Epstein settlement with Prince Andrew accuser to be made public
A secret Jeffrey Epstein settlement that Prince Andrew
believes should protect him against a sex-assault lawsuit is going to be made
public, two judges ruled this week.
Late pedophile Epstein signed the deal in 2009 with Virginia
Roberts Giuffre, the longtime accuser who is now suing Andrew, 61, for
allegedly having sex with her three times when she was 17.
The UK royal’s legal team has insisted the civil settlement
— which has remained under seal — also shields him and others “from any and all
liability” that stem from Giuffre’s accusations.
On Tuesday, Manhattan federal Judges Loretta Preska and
Lewis Kaplan signed a joint order outlining plans to make public the document
that Andrew’s team submitted in a motion to dismiss the lawsuit.
“Mr. Epstein, as is well known, is deceased. The Document is
well known to Ms. Giuffre,” the judges wrote, noting it has also “been
available to all parties in this case for some time.”
“We question whether any proper purpose would be served by
the continued secrecy of the document save, perhaps, the dollar amount the
settlement provided it for,” the judges wrote.
They gave a Dec. 22 deadline to show “good cause” to keep it
secret or “the Court will file the entire Document on the public record on or
about January 3, 2022.”
In her suit against the embattled royal, Giuffre claims she
was ordered by Epstein or his alleged cohort, Ghislaine Maxwell, to engage in
sex acts with Andrew at least three times in London, New York and the Virgin
Islands in 2001 when she was 17.
The middle son of UK monarch Queen Elizabeth II has long
vehemently denied Giuffre’s claims, including during a disastrous UK TV
interview that led to him being booted from royal duties.
After repeatedly dodging attempts to be served Giuffre’s
lawsuit, he has fought to get the complaint thrown out, claiming his accuser
was herself a sex trafficker and arguing that she was not underage at the time
she claims she was forced to have sex with him.
Comments
Post a Comment