Prince Andrew accuser’s secret $700k deal with Jeffrey Epstein released
Prince Andrew’s accuser Virginia Roberts’ secret deal with multi-millionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein has been released for the first time.
Royals
Don't miss out on the headlines from Royals. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Prince Andrew accuser Virginia Roberts’ secret deal with Jeffrey Epstein has been released for the first time.
The Duke of York’s legal team had been hoping the document could be key to letting him off the hook as her lawsuit against him comes before a judge tomorrow, The Sun reports.
The document reveals the terms of a $US500,000 ($695,000) payout from Epstein to Virginia, who was abused and trafficked by the multi-millionaire paedophile.
Andrew’s lawyers hope that the terms of the back room agreement mean that Virginia will not be able to carry on with her lawsuit against the Duke.
The newly released 2009 deal details how all other “potential defendants” are excused from “all manner of action and actions of Virginia Roberts”.
Virginia’s settlement had been kept under seal – but judges last month ordered it to be released today unless “good cause” could be shown otherwise.
The Duke’s lawyers maintain that the clause in the agreement precludes him from being sued by Virginia – who alleges he sexually assaulted her three times starting when she was 17.
The now 38-year-old claims she was enticed by the Duke of York’s pal Ghislaine Maxwell and lured into paedo Epstein’s sick sexual pyramid scheme.
Maxwell, 60, was this week found guilty of helping to lure vulnerable teens to ex-lover Epstein’s properties for him to abuse between 1994 and 2004.
Virginia’s lawyers agreed to hand over a copy of the settlement for Andrew’s lawyers to examine back in October.
Andrew strongly denies all allegations against him and says he had no knowledge of Epstein or Maxwell’s crimes.
But his legal team have been lobbying for it to be placed on public record.
They got their wish after judges Loretta Preska and Lewis Kaplan – who are overseeing the lawsuit against the Duke – backed the claim and ordered it to be made public.
Andrew has not been charged with any crimes – and the Prince is trying to have Virginia’s civil lawsuit dismissed.
Andrew Brettler, the Duke’s lawyer, previously said the undisclosed documents will release him from liability as they cover anyone Virginia might sue.
But her lawyer David Boies countered that it applied “at most” to people involved in underlying litigation in Florida, where Epstein had a home and his “house of horrors”, and Andrew should not use it as a “get out of jail free card”.
However, the secret deal does not explicitly rule out legal action against Andrew, reported The Telegraph.
The document does not name the Duke and contains only broad references to Epstein’s associates.
Mr Boies has described the agreement as “irrelevant” to the case.
Andrew has repeatedly denied all allegations against him, which includes rape in the first degree, and his lawyers have claimed his accuser has a “tendency to change her story”.
They also previously warned that she could be creating “false memories” with her claims.
Virginia alleges she was forced to have sex with the Prince by Epstein and his ‘madam’ Maxwell when she was 17 and he was 41 in 2001.
Andrew faces civil litigation suit for the first time over the allegations in the 15-page lawsuit.
His accuser’s legal team argue she was a “frightened, vulnerable child with no one there to protect her” when she was allegedly abused by Andrew, saying “no person, whether President or Prince, is above the law”.
Andrew is named as the only defendant in the suit, brought under New York state’s Child Victims Act, though Epstein and his former girlfriend Maxwell are mentioned frequently throughout.
Ms Giuffre is seeking unknown amounts of compensation and punitive damages over the allegations.
She claims she feared for her life when she was allegedly forced to have sex with Andrew, who is accused of having been aware of her age and status as a “sex-trafficking victim”.
Court documents claim Ms Giuffre was “lent out for sexual purposes” by convicted sex offender Epstein including while she was still a minor under US law.
The docs add the alleged assaults “have caused, and continue to cause her, significant emotional and psychological distress and harm”.
“Prince Andrew’s actions, described above, constitute extreme and outrageous conduct that shocks the conscience,” the lawsuit stated as it described the emotional distress suffered by Ms Giuffre.
“Prince Andrew’s sexual abuse of a child who he knew was a sex-trafficking victim, and when he was approximately 40 years old, goes beyond all possible bounds of decency and is intolerable in a civilised community,” it added.
In an infamous Newsnight interview with the BBC’s Emily Maitlis in November 2019, Andrew denied claims that he slept with Ms Giuffre and said he had “no recollection” of ever meeting her.
He also said he has no memory of the well-known photograph of him with his arm around Ms Giuffre’s waist at Maxwell’s house, and has questioned whether it was his own hand in the image.
The fallout from the interview saw the royal criticised for showing a lack of empathy towards Epstein’s victims and a lack of remorse over his friendship with disgraced financier.
Andrew has previously pledged to assist with any investigation into his former friend, but there has been a long running war of words between his team and US prosecutors about how much assistance he has offered them.
Epstein hanged himself in his prison cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking offences, while Maxwell faces potentially spending the rest of her life in prison after she was convicted over her role in the scheme.
The Sun reports Prince Andrew has only two options left – and silence isn’t one of them, according to Epstein victim lawyer Brad Edwards.
This article originally appeared in The Sun and was reproduced with permission
Originally published as Prince Andrew accuser’s secret $700k deal with Jeffrey Epstein released
Two words raise Sussex marriage concerns
As the Duke and Duchess of Sussex continue to appear individually, a friend’s claim has only made things more confusing.
Royal family posts job ad with low salary
Buckingham Palace has rushed to correct an “error” for inadvertently posting a housekeeper job ad with a salary that is less than minimum wage.