Prince Andrew Accused of Sexual Abuse in New Lawsuit
For years, Prince Andrew has faced claims made by Virginia Roberts Guiffre that she was forced to have sex with him while being abused by convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. And now Virginia has taken legal action directly against the Prince, filing a civil lawsuit in federal court in New York on Monday accusing Andrew of sexual abuse and infliction of emotional distress and seeking unspecified damages.
"I am holding Prince Andrew accountable for what he did to me. The powerful and the rich are not exempt from being held responsible for their actions. I hope that other victims will see that it is possible not to live in silence and fear, but one can reclaim her life by speaking out and demanding justice," ABC News reported that Giuffre said in a statement from her lawyers.
The Prince has always strongly denied the claims, telling the BBC in a 2019 interview that he has “no recollection of ever meeting this lady, none whatsoever.” When asked about a photograph of the two of them together said to have been taken in 2001, he told Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis that he was at home that night having earlier taken his daughter Princess Beatrice to a party at Pizza Express, adding, “you can't prove whether or not that photograph is faked or not because it is a photograph of a photograph of a photograph.”
The fallout from the interview saw the Duke of York announce in November 2019 that he was stepping back from his official duties “for the foreseeable future,” saying, “It has become clear to me over the last few days that the circumstances relating to my former association with Jeffrey Epstein has become a major disruption to my family’s work.”
Since then, he has barely been seen at all in public and did not even appear in official photographs of Beatrice’s wedding in July 2020. However, he has continued to be in the spotlight over his former friendship with Epstein, who died in prison in August 2019. Their mutual friend Ghislaine Maxwell remains in custody awaiting trial for her alleged role trafficking minors for Epstein. She has pleaded not guilty.
Virginia’s latest court filing claims that she was sexually abused by Prince Andrew on “separate occasions when she was under the age of 18 years old,” in Ghislaine Maxwell’s London home, Epstein’s New York Mansion, and on Epstein’s private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The documents also accuse Andrew of not co-operating with U.S. authorities investigating Epstein or with lawyers for the victims bringing civil cases against Epstein’s estate.
The case was brought days before the expiration of a law that allows alleged victims of childhood sexual abuse to file civil claims that might otherwise not be possible, ABC News notes.
In an interview with BBC Radio 4's Today program, Arick Fudali, a partner at legal firm Bloom which has represented victims of Jeffrey Epstein said he was "not surprised" that the case had been brought forward, especially given the timing with the upcoming law expiration. He said that "technically" papers would have to be handed to Prince Andrew and that a trial could be avoided if this did not happen. He added that it was "tough to say" what the likelihood was of the case actually ending up in trial. "There is always a very strong possibility that cases could be resolved or settled in the middle before litigation. But what this certainly does is it preserves the claimant. It certainly puts pressure on the defendant."
A representative for the Duke of York declined to comment.
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