MIAMI — It was the bombshell lawsuit that wasn’t.
Six months and six days after Virginia Giuffre filed suit against British royal Prince Andrew, alleging that he had sexually assaulted her while she was a minor, the lawsuit has been settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.
Andrew will make a “substantial donation” to Giuffre’s victims’ rights charity and appears to admit no wrongdoing. He does express regret for his association with former pal Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier in whose homes Giuffre alleged she had been sexually abused. No mention of Epstein’s former girlfriend and co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell, whose London home was the site of one of the alleged incidents of abuse.
The lawsuit’s speedy conclusion leaves more questions than it answers. Andrew had consistently denied Giuffre’s accusations, most notably in a disastrous BBC interview in which he claimed, among other things, that a medical condition rendered him unable to sweat. Giuffre had intended to force Andrew to turn over evidence supporting his medical condition, but, alas, it will remain a mystery.
And what of the provenance of the famous photograph featuring Giuffre, Maxwell and Andrew? The British prince said he had no recollection of the photo and left open the possibility that the photograph was a fake. No resolution on that question, either.
Andrew’s settlement came less than two months after a New York jury found Maxwell guilty of five counts related to the sexual trafficking of minors. Giuffre didn’t testify in the trial but was invoked numerous times throughout the proceedings. Giuffre welcomed the guilty verdict and said she hoped others would also face consequences for their roles in Epstein’s enterprise.
“I hope that today is not the end but rather another step in justice being served. Maxwell did not act alone. Others must be held accountable. I have faith that they will be,” Giuffre said.
Maxwell is currently fighting for a new trial on the sex trafficking charges after one of the members of the jury gave interviews after the trial revealing that he had been a victim of sexual abuse and had not been asked about it during the jury selection process. He said that he discussed his experiences with other jurors during their deliberation on Maxwell’s charges.
Epstein died in August 2019, a month after being charged with a fresh slate of sex crimes by federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York. He had famously escaped harsh penalty the first time after Palm Beach police investigated reports that he had sexually abused numerous girls. The deal Epstein struck with federal prosecutors in the Southern District of Florida that allowed him to plead guilty to two counts of solicitation, one involving a minor, was the subject of the Miami Herald’s 2018 Perversion of Justice series.
Giuffre had previously filed suit against both Epstein and Maxwell. Andrew tried, unsuccessfully, to argue that a settlement Giuffre had reached with Epstein in 2009 shielded him from Giuffre’s lawsuit. U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan last month denied Andrew’s bid to have the suit thrown out.
Giuffre’s 2015 lawsuit against Maxwell, for defamation, was also settled in 2017. Maxwell’s testimony in the proceedings formed the basis for two counts of perjury that she still faces.
Prince Andrew was one of many famous men Giuffre has said Epstein and Maxwell directed her to have sex with. Will she file suits against some of the other men she has accused? Another mystery, but one that will actually have an answer.
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