(New York) Britain’s Prince Andrew on Friday asked US justice to dismiss a woman’s “baseless” complaint that accuses him of sexual assault when she was a minor, assuring that she was seeking to profit financially the case, according to court documents.
In one of them, filed in Manhattan, the Duke of York’s lawyer accuses Virginia Giuffre of suing the prince “to get more money” from his allegations against the sulphurous financier Jeffrey Epstein, who died in 2019.
“Most people wouldn’t even dream of getting the sums of money Giuffre has made over the years,” Brettler wrote.
“This is a motivation for Giuffre so that she continues to bring less serious lawsuits against individuals such as Prince Andrew, whose tainted reputation is only the latest collateral damage of the Epstein scandal,” he said. added.
PHOTO BEBETO MATTHEWS, ARCHIVES ASSOCIATED PRESS
Virginia giuffre
Virginia Giuffre, 38, who had previously publicly accused Queen Elizabeth’s second son, filed a lawsuit in August 2021 in federal court in Manhattan. The case is particularly embarrassing for the British royal family, as Jeffrey Epstein is associated with it.
In his complaint, Mme Giuffre accuses Prince Andrew of being “one of the powerful men” to whom she would have been “handed over for a sexual purpose” when she was, she claims, the victim between 2000 and 2002, from her 16 years, of the vast sex trafficking for which Jeffrey Epstein was charged and imprisoned, before killing himself in a Manhattan prison in the summer of 2019.
Prince Andrew, 61, has always denied the charges.
His attorneys have asked the Manhattan court to dismiss the lawsuit because, they say, it does not state “a claim capable of redress.” Alternatively, they ask the court to demand that the complainant “provide a more definitive version of her allegations”.
They also asked the court to hold an “oral debate” on these issues. Since the filing of the complaint, the Duke of York had disputed its notification, before finally acknowledging it.
“Virginia Giuffre may well have been sexually abused by Jeffrey Epstein, and nothing can excuse, or fully express, the horror and gravity of Epstein’s monstrous behavior against Giuffre, if true” , wrote the lawyers.
“However, and without diminishing the harm suffered as a result of Epstein’s alleged behavior, Prince Andrew never assaulted or sexually assaulted Giuffre. He unequivocally denies Giuffre’s false allegations against him, ”they added.
Lawyers for the prince have claimed that Mr.me Giuffre “would have received millions of dollars” from an amicable settlement dating from 2017 after having sued Ghislaine Maxwell, a close friend of Jeffrey Epstein.
They also said an agreement in 2009, which she signed with Jeffrey Epstein, prevented her from prosecuting anyone else in connection with her allegations of sexual abuse. Solicited, a lawyer of Mme Giuffre hadn’t reacted immediately.
Prince Andrew is accused of having “sexually assaulted” Mr.me Giuffre, then a minor, three times: in London with Ghislaine Maxwell and in the properties of the American financier in New York and in the Virgin Islands. Despite his denials, his association with the American businessman had plunged him into turmoil and forced him to retire from public life.