Prince Andrew has settled a civil sexual assault case brought against him in the US by Virginia Giuffre.
Ms. Giuffre sued the Duke of York, claiming he sexually assaulted her on three occasions when she was 17, allegations he repeatedly denied.
A letter filed to the US district court on Tuesday, February 15, 2022, said the duke and Ms. Giuffre had reached an out-of-court settlement. It said the duke would pay an undisclosed sum to Ms. Giuffre.
His representatives said he had no comment beyond what was said in the document filed to the court. Buckingham Palace declined to comment on the settlement.
In a letter to US judge, Lewis A Kaplan, Ms. Giuffre’s lawyer, David Boies wrote jointly with Prince Andrew’s lawyers to say the pair have reached “a settlement in principle”.
A statement included with the letter read: “The parties will file a stipulated dismissal upon Ms. Giuffre’s receipt of the settlement,” (the sum of which is not being disclosed).
It said the duke would make a “substantial donation to Ms Giuffre’s charity in support of victims’ rights”.
The statement added that Prince Andrew had “never intended to malign Ms. Giuffre’s character” and he recognised she had “suffered both as an established victim of abuse and as a result of unfair public attacks”.
The duke also pledged to “demonstrate his regret for his association” with the late convicted sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein by supporting the “fight against the evils of sex trafficking, and by supporting its victims”.
He also commended the “bravery of Ms Giuffre and other survivors in standing up for themselves and others”. However, Prince Andrew makes no admission of liability.
Responding to the settlement, Mr. Boies in an interview said: “I believe this event speaks for itself.”
Ms. Giuffre, now 38, claimed she was the victim of sex trafficking and abuse by financier Epstein from the age of 16. Epstein died in prison in 2019 while awaiting a sex trafficking trial.
She said part of the abuse saw her lent out to powerful men, including Prince Andrew, who is the third child of the Queen and ninth in line to the throne.
Ms Giuffre claimed the duke, 61, sexually assaulted her on three occasions – at Ghislaine Maxwell’s home in London, in Epstein’s mansion in New York and on Epstein’s private island in the US Virgin Islands.
In a 2019 interview, Prince Andrew said he had no memory of ever meeting Ms. Giuffre and said her account of their London meeting and sex at a house in Belgravia “didn’t happen”.
In January 2022, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled that the civil action over him could go ahead.
Buckingham Palace later announced that Prince Andrew’s military titles and royal patronages had been returned to the Queen. A royal source said he would also stop using the title, ‘His Royal Highness’ in an official capacity.
Lisa Bloom, a lawyer representing several of Epstein’s accusers, welcomed the duke’s settlement as a “victory” for Ms. Giuffre.
In a statement on Twitter, on behalf of her clients, she wrote: “We hail Virginia’s victory today. She has accomplished what no one else could: getting Prince Andrew to stop his nonsense and side with sexual abuse victims. We salute Virginia’s stunning courage.”
In December 2021, Maxwell, 60, was found guilty of recruiting and trafficking underage girls to be sexually abused by Epstein.
Last month (January 2022), Virginia Giuffre officially requested a retrial after an adjudicator in the case told the media Prince Andrew used his own experience of being sexually abused to influence judges to reach a verdict.
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