Giuffre sued the British royal in August, saying she was coerced into sexual encounters with him in 2001 by Epstein and his longtime companion, Ghislaine Maxwell.
Prince Andrew
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A choose has — for now — refused to dismiss a lawsuit in opposition to Britain’s Prince Andrew by an American girl who says he sexually abused her when she was 17.
Stressing Wednesday that he wasn’t ruling on the reality of the allegations, U.S. District Decide Lewis A. Kaplan rejected an argument by Andrew’s attorneys that Virginia Giuffre’s lawsuit must be thrown out at an early stage due to an outdated authorized settlement she had with Jeffrey Epstein, the financier she claims arrange sexual encounters with the prince.
Kaplan mentioned the $500,000 settlement between Epstein and Giuffre didn’t contain the prince and didn’t bar a swimsuit in opposition to him now.
Giuffre sued the 61-year-old Andrew in August, saying she was coerced into sexual encounters with him in 2001 by Epstein and his longtime companion, Ghislaine Maxwell. Giuffre mentioned she was sexually abused by Andrew at Maxwell’s London residence, at Epstein’s New York mansion and his property within the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Andrew’s attorneys had mentioned the lawsuit lacked specificity and was disqualified by the deal she reached in 2009 with attorneys for Epstein. Additionally they attacked Giuffre’s credibility and motives, saying in October that the lawsuit was geared toward attaining “one other payday at his expense and on the expense of these closest to him.”
Kaplan mentioned Giuffre’s criticism is neither “unintelligible” nor “obscure” nor “ambiguous.”
“It alleges discrete incidents of sexual abuse particularly circumstances at three identifiable places. It identifies to whom it attributes that sexual abuse,” he wrote.
The choose included in his ruling information alleged by Giuffre, together with that Epstein and Maxwell had been visitors on the prince’s fortieth party in 2000 and that Andrew invited Epstein to his daughter’s 18th party in 2006, a month after Florida state prosecutors charged Epstein with procuring a minor for prostitution.
The prince’s attorneys have mentioned that Andrew by no means sexually abused or assaulted Giuffre and that he “unequivocally denies Giuffre’s false allegations in opposition to him.”
The prince himself has strenuously denied Giuffre’s allegations. In late 2019, Prince Andrew informed BBC Newsnight that intercourse with Giuffre “didn’t occur” and he has “no recollection” of ever assembly her. His statements led critics to say he appeared insensitive to Epstein’s victims. Afterward, the prince stepped again from royal duties.
His attorneys didn't instantly reply to messages in search of remark Wednesday. Buckingham Palace informed The Related Press that it could not touch upon the “ongoing authorized matter.”
Sigrid McCawley, an lawyer for Giuffre, mentioned in a press release that Kaplan’s ruling “is one other essential step in Virginia’s heroic and decided pursuit of justice as a survivor of intercourse trafficking.”
Whereas Andrew denies the allegations, Buckingham Palace will need him to settle the case so Queen Elizabeth II can transfer on with out extra sordid headlines that weaken the monarchy and taint each member of the royal household, mentioned Mark Stephens, a specialist in worldwide regulation at Howard Kennedy in London.
Stephens mentioned Wednesday’s ruling means the method of delaying each technical level open to them as a matter of regulation has successfully performed itself out. Regardless that Andrew is prone to enchantment, the case will transfer ahead, and he'll face the embarrassment of getting to testify about his alleged actions with a 17-year-old.
“The sensible realities of this place have caught a noose round Prince Andrew’s neck,” Stephens mentioned. “He’s obtained to settle. He’s obtained to get out. Or he’s a lifeless man strolling.”
Kaplan famous that he was required by regulation, at this stage of the litigation, to imagine Giuffre’s allegations are true, although the prince’s attorneys might solid doubt on the reality of the claims at trial. The choose has mentioned a trial wouldn't happen till late this 12 months, on the earliest. Depositions of the prince and Giuffre would happen earlier than then.
Giuffre’s settlement with Epstein was reached a decade earlier than the 66-year-old financier killed himself at a Manhattan federal lockup as he awaited a intercourse trafficking trial in 2019, over a decade after Florida federal prosecutors struck a take care of his attorneys to not prosecute him. His attorneys claimed the Florida deal prevented the New York expenses.
Equally, Andrew’s attorneys cited language within the lately unsealed $500,000 settlement by Epstein with Giuffre that mentioned her claims in opposition to “potential defendants” had been additionally disallowed by the deal.
However Kaplan wrote that there have been substantial indications within the settlement that Epstein and Giuffre didn't clearly intend to “straight,” “primarily,” or “considerably” profit somebody such because the prince. He famous that the prince was not a celebration to the settlement.
He additionally mentioned the settlement was “removed from a mannequin of clear and exact drafting.”
The choose’s findings mirrored feedback he made throughout oral arguments by either side when he was significantly dismissive of the arguments made on the prince’s behalf.
Epstein’s loss of life got here greater than two years earlier than his former girlfriend, Maxwell, 60, was convicted of intercourse trafficking and conspiracy expenses in Manhattan federal courtroom. Giuffre’s allegations in opposition to Andrew weren't a part of the legal circumstances in opposition to Epstein or Maxwell.
Giuffre asserted that she met Andrew whereas she traveled continuously with Epstein between 2000 and 2002, when her attorneys preserve she was “on name for Epstein for sexual functions” and was “lent out to different highly effective males,” together with Andrew. Her lawsuit mentioned she nonetheless suffers vital emotional and psychological misery and hurt.
The AP doesn't sometimes establish individuals who say they're victims of sexual assault until they select to return ahead publicly, as Giuffre has.