Prince Andrew settles sex abuse lawsuit by Jeffrey Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre
A lawsuit accusing Britain’s Prince Andrew of sexually
assaulting an underage girl while she was under the control of sex criminal
Jeffrey Epstein and his procurer Ghislaine Maxwell has been settled out of
court, a court filing revealed Tuesday.
The sum of the money that Andrew has agreed to pay his
accuser Virginia Giuffre to settle her claims against him was not disclosed in
the filing, which also said the prince also will make “a substantial donation
to Ms. Giuffre’s charity in support of victims’ rights.”
A related document says Andrew “regrets his association with
Epstein, and commends the bravery of Ms. Giuffre and other survivors in
standing up for themselves and others.”
″ He pledges to demonstrate his regret for his association
with Epstein by supporting the fight against the evils of sex trafficking, and
by supporting its victims,” that document says.
The bombshell development came in Manhattan federal court,
where Andrew previously failed in attempts to get Giuffre’s suit tossed out,
and after he had been stripped of military titles and other honorifics related
to being a member of Britain’s royal family because of his association with
Epstein and Maxwell.
The tentative settlement was disclosed in a letter by
Giuffre’s lawyer to Judge Lewis Kaplan to dismiss the suit, who is expected to
dismiss the suit after both sides file a formal stipulation that they want to
end the case.
Andrew had denied Giuffre’s allegations that he sexually
abused her two decades ago in New York, London and the U.S. Virgin Islands,
when he was a friend of Epstein and Maxwell.
Tuesday’s court filing gave no indication that the son of
Queen Elizabeth had wavered in that denial.
But the settlement will spare Andrew further ignominy from
being forced to answer questions under oath for depositions in the case, and
face a public trial in New York that would have drawn massive media attention.
The deal comes less than two months after Maxwell was
convicted in the same courthouse of procuring other underage girls to be
sexually abused by Epstein, an investment manager who killed himself in a
federal jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal child sex trafficking
charges.
Giuffre’s suit alleged that she had had sex with Andrew at
the direction of Epstein and Maxwell.
In his letter to Judge Kaplan, Giuffre’s high-powered lawyer
David Boies wrote, “We write jointly with counsel for defendant to advise the
Court that the parties reached a settlement in principle of the
above-referenced action.”
“The parties anticipate filing a stipulation of dismissal of
the case within thirty (30) days,” Boies wrote. “In the interim, the parties
request that the Court suspend all deadlines and hold the action in abeyance.”
A document referenced in the letter, which was attached to
the filing, said, “Virginia Giuffre and Prince Andrew have reached an out of
court settlement.”
“The parties will file a stipulated dismissal upon Ms.
Giuffre’s receipt of the settlement (the sum of which is not being disclosed).
Prince Andrew intends to make a substantial donation to Ms. Giuffre’s charity
in
support of victims’ rights.”
“Prince Andrew has never intended to malign Ms.Giuffre’s
character, and he accepts that she has suffered both as an established victim
of abuse and as a result of unfair public attacks. It is known that Jeffrey
Epstein trafficked countless young girls over many years,”
the statement says.
Andrew was one of Epstein’s many rich, powerful and
high-profile friends over the years.
Epstein also had long-standing friendships with former
Presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton before he pleaded guilty to Florida
state charges in 2009, which included paying an underage girl for sexual
services.
Giuffre’s lawsuit had alleged that she “was regularly abused
by Epstein and was lent out by Epstein to other powerful men for sexual
purposes.”
Giuffre’s suit says she was “was also forced to have sex
with Defendant, Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, at [Epstein’s] and Maxwell’s
direction.”
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