NEW YORK: Britain’s Prince Andrew has settled a US lawsuit by Virginia Giuffre accusing him of sexually abusing her when she was a teenager, potentially sparing him further embarrassment in a case that caused his fall from grace.
The settlement, which includes an undisclosed payment, was revealed in a filing in Manhattan federal court, where Giuffre had sued the Duke of York last August. The prince did not admit wrongdoing in the settlement. Giuffre’s case had focused on Andrew’s friendship with the late Jeffrey Epstein, the financier and sex offender who she said also sexually abused her. The filing said Andrew regrets his past association with Epstein.
In the joint filing, lawyers for Giuffre, 38, and Andrew, 61, said their settlement in principle calls for the prince to make a “substantial donation” to 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,” the filing said.
Andrew has denied accusations of forcing Giuffre, who now lives in Australia, more than two decades ago at the London home of Epstein’s associate Ghislaine Maxwell. A trial in the case had been expected to begin late this year. Andrew would have had to give testimony under oath.
“It is known that Jeffrey Epstein trafficked countless young girls over many years,” the filing said. “Prince 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.”
The statement represented a marked departure from a 2019 interview in which Andrew failed to show sympathy toward Epstein’s victims and refused to apologise for his friendship with the financier. The royal family in January removed Andrew’s military titles and royal patronages and said he will no longer be known as ‘His Royal Highness’. Andrew was defending against Giuffre’s lawsuit as a private citizen. For now, his legal exposure in the United States to similar claims appears to be over.
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Andrew faces no criminal charges, and none will result from Giuffre’s lawsuit because it was a civil case. The office of US Attorney Damian Williams in Manhattan has been investigating Epstein’s sex trafficking and considered Andrew at least a potential witness, or “person of interest.”
In court papers in the lawsuit, Giuffre said she “feared death or physical injury to herself or another and other repercussions for disobeying Epstein, Maxwell and Prince Andrew due to their powerful connections, wealth and authority.”
US District Judge Lewis Kaplan refused to dismiss Giuffre’s lawsuit last month, without ruling on its merits. He also said it was premature to decide whether Giuffre’s 2009 civil settlement with Epstein also shielded Andrew. Epstein had paid Giuffre $500,000 to end her Florida lawsuit accusing him of sexual abuse, without admitting liability.
Andrew’s lawyers had contended that Giuffre’s lawsuit was “baseless” and that she was seeking “another payday,” after also receiving “millions of dollars” in a 2017 settlement of her civil defamation lawsuit against Maxwell.
Epstein killed himself at age 66 in a Manhattan jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. Maxwell was convicted in December of recruiting and grooming underage girls for Epstein to abuse between 1994 and 2004. Giuffre sued Andrew less than a week before the expiration of a New York state law providing a two-year window to sue over child abuse dating back decades.
