NEW YORK (Reuters) – Britain’s Prince Andrew will on Tuesday urge a New York decide to dismiss Virginia Giuffre’s lawsuit accusing the Duke of York of sexually abusing her when she was underage and in addition being trafficked by the late financier Jeffrey Epstein.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan is anticipated to assess a November 2009 settlement settlement between Epstein and Giuffre, which the 61-year-old prince’s attorneys have stated shields Andrew from claims by the 38-year-old Giuffre.
Andrew has denied Giuffre’s accusations that he compelled her to have intercourse when she was 17 on the London dwelling of former Epstein affiliate Ghislaine Maxwell, and abused her at two different Epstein properties. The prince has not been accused of prison wrongdoing.
The 2009 settlement included a basic launch that may “endlessly discharge” varied individuals who “might have been included as a possible defendant” in a civil lawsuit that Giuffre had filed in opposition to Epstein in Florida, the place the financier additionally had a house.
It didn’t title any particular person by title. Epstein was to pay Giuffre $500,000 with out admitting legal responsibility underneath the settlement settlement, which was made public https://www.reuters.com/world/us/prince-andrew-accusers-deal-with-epstein-be-made-public-part-civil-suit-2022-01-03 on Monday.
Kaplan is unlikely to rule instantly throughout Tuesday’s oral arguments, which shall be held remotely.
Andrew has additionally accused Giuffre of in search of one other “payday” in her marketing campaign in opposition to Epstein and former associates like Maxwell, from whom she sought $50 million in a since-settled 2015 defamation lawsuit.
He is represented by Andrew Brettler, a Los Angeles lawyer, whereas Giuffre is represented by David Boies of Boies Schiller & Flexner.
Boies on Monday stated Andrew was not a “potential defendant” coated by Giuffre’s settlement as a result of the prince couldn’t have been sued in Florida and the case there didn’t concern him.
Andrew’s ties to Epstein have value him many royal duties and broken his status, together with after critics stated he failed in a 2019 BBC interview https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-royals-andrew/britains-prince-andrew-categorically-denies-sex-claims-idUSKBN1XP2CX to seem sympathetic to Epstein’s abuse victims.
Kaplan has stated Giuffre’s case in opposition to Andrew might go to trial between September and December if no settlement is reached.
Epstein killed himself at age 66 in a Manhattan jail cell in August 2019 whereas awaiting trial on intercourse trafficking expenses.
Maxwell, 60, was convicted https://www.reuters.com/world/us/maxwell-jury-resume-deliberations-after-judge-warns-omicron-risk-2021-12-29 on Dec. 29 of recruiting and grooming ladies for Epstein to abuse between 1994 and 2004. Giuffre’s accusations weren’t half of that case, and he or she didn’t testify.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen and Jonathan Stempel in New York, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien)
