Epstein accuser files lawsuit accusing Prince Andrew of rape
By Jonah E. Bromwich
NEW YORK — Virginia Giuffre, one of Jeffrey Epstein’s most prominent accusers, has filed a lawsuit against Prince Andrew saying he raped her when she was 17 and committed other forms of sexual abuse, according to court documents.
Giuffre had previously said in legal filings that Epstein, the financier who was accused of sexually exploiting dozens of women and girls and who hanged himself in 2019, offered sex with her to Prince Andrew, the second son of Queen Elizabeth II, multiple times when she was 17.
In her lawsuit, filed in federal court in Manhattan on Monday (9), she repeated those accusations, saying that the prince committed acts of sexual assault and battery, causing severe and lasting damage. She is asking for damages to be determined by the court.
Prince Andrew, 61, also known as the Duke of York, has denied Giuffre’s accusations, and said that he has “no recollection” of having met her. After giving a disastrous television interview about his relationship with Epstein, the prince announced in 2019 that he would withdraw from public life.
Lawyers for the prince did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Last January, the US attorney in Manhattan said that Prince Andrew had yet to cooperate with a federal investigation into allegations of sex trafficking by Epstein and his associates, contradicting his pledge to do so. The prince is a friend of Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend, who in March was charged with sex trafficking of a minor.
The prince’s lawyers responded then saying that he had offered his assistance “on at least three occasions”.
Asked on Monday whether there had been any change in the prince’s posture with regard to cooperating with the federal investigation into Epstein and his associates, Nicholas Biase, a spokesman for the US attorney in Manhattan, declined to comment.
Giuffre’s lawsuit accuses Prince Andrew of raping her at Maxwell’s home in London, saying that Prince Andrew, Epstein and Maxwell had forced her to have intercourse with the prince against her will.
The filing includes a picture of the prince with his arm around Giuffre’s waist and Maxwell smiling in the background, and says that the picture was taken at Maxwell’s home.
Maxwell, who was arrested last year, is awaiting a federal trial in Manhattan.
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