Virginia Giuffre, an alleged victim of Jeffrey Epstein, has filed a lawsuit against Prince Andrew for alleged sexual assault when she was 17, as Associated Press reports.
The suit, filed in Manhattan federal court on Monday, accuses the prince of sexually abusing Giuffre multiple times while she was a minor. Giuffre allegedly received “express or implied threats” by Epstein, Epstein’s girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell, and/or Andrew to perform sexual acts with the prince, according to the lawsuit. Giuffre’s suit seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
“The powerful and rich are not exempt from being held responsible for their actions. I hope that other victims will see that it is possible not to live in silence and fear, but to reclaim one’s life by speaking out and demanding justice,” Giuffre said in a statement.
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“I did not come to this decision lightly,” she added. “As a mother and a wife, my family comes first — and I know that this action will subject me to further attacks by Prince Andrew and his surrogates — but I knew if I did not pursue this action, I would be letting them and victims everywhere down.”
In an interview with BBC Newsnight in 2019, Prince Andrew, a longtime friend of Epstein, denied that he had sex with Giuffre. “It didn’t happen,” he said. He added that he had “no recollection” of meeting Giuffre. “I can absolutely categorically tell you it never happened,” he told BBC. After the interview, he stepped away from his royal duties.
Giuffre’s lawsuit alleges that Prince Andrew knew Giuffre’s age at the time of the encounters, which are claimed to have taken place at Maxwell’s London home, in Epstein’s New York mansion, and on Epstein’s private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Maxwell is facing sex trafficking charges to which she has pleaded not guilty. Her trial is set for November. Epstein was indicted for sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking of minors charges in July 2019, to which he pleaded not guilty. He was found dead by suicide a month later.