Virginia Giuffre’s lawsuit against Britain’s Prince Andrew: Here’s what we know
Global News
Prince Andrew has called the lawsuit by Virginia Giuffre, now 38, baseless. Giuffre also sued Andrew's friend, the late financier Jeffrey Epstein, in 2009.
Prince Andrew of Britain‘s lawyers on Tuesday will ask a U.S. judge to dismiss a lawsuit by a woman who has accused him of forcing her to have sex two decades ago when she was 17.
Andrew has called the lawsuit by Virginia Giuffre, now 38, baseless. Giuffre also sued Andrew’s friend, the late financier Jeffrey Epstein, in 2009 accusing him of sexually assaulting her in 1998 when she was 15.
A civil settlement agreement between Epstein and Giuffre was made public in federal court in Manhattan on Monday, a deal that could influence her lawsuit against the prince.
The following is a summary of the lawsuit and what it means for Andrew:
Giuffre, also known as Virginia Roberts, sued Andrew in New York in 2021 claiming that he sexually assaulted and battered her. Giuffre said Andrew forced her to have intercourse at the London home of Ghislaine Maxwell, a British socialite and Epstein’s longtime associate and at properties owned by Epstein.
Epstein died by suicide in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019 at the age of 66 while awaiting trial on sex abuse charges. Maxwell, 60, was convicted on Dec. 29 of sex trafficking and other crimes.
Andrew’s lawyers have called the lawsuit “baseless” and accused her seeking a payday. They have argued that Giuffre signed away her right to sue the prince in her 2009 settlement with Epstein.
Andrew, 61, told the BBC in November 2019 that he could not have had sex with Giuffre at Maxwell’s home because he had returned to his house that night after a children’s party.
