Prince Andrew’s Aussie accuser secret deal with Epstein released
The settlement between Virginia Roberts Giuffre and Jeffrey Epstein has been released for the first time as her sex assault lawsuit against Prince Andrew comes before a judge.
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A secret legal settlement between Virginia Roberts Giuffre and Jeffrey Epstein, the late financier and convicted paedophile who she accused of using her as a “sex slave”, has been unsealed.
The 2009 settlement, which Prince Andrew hopes will lead to the dismissal of Ms Roberts Giuffre’s sex assault lawsuit against him, was released by a New York court.
Jeffrey Epstein paid accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre $500,000 ($A690,000) in the settlement agreement inked in 2009, according to the deal made public for the first time.
Associates of Epstein, including Prince Andrew, have argued the confidential release agreement blocks Ms Roberts Giuffre from taking legal action against them.
The unsealing of the settlement document has been triggered by Ms Roberts Giuffre’s sexual abuse lawsuit against Prince Andrew, which she filed on August 9 in a Manhattan federal court.
Prince Andrew vehemently maintains his innocence and denies any wrongdoing.
Prince Andrew filed Ms Roberts Giuffre’s settlement with Epstein as part of his attempt to dismiss her case, arguing that it shields him from criminal charges.
The unsealed settlement states that upon receiving the sum payment, Ms Roberts Giuffre, referred to under her maiden name of Roberts, agreed to “remise, release, acquit, satisfy and forever discharge the said second parties and any other person or entity who could have been included as a potential defendant … from all, and all manner of, action and actions of Virginia Roberts, including state or federal, cause and causes of action”.
Prince Andrew is not mentioned in the released settlement.
In a court filing on October 29, Prince Andrew’s lawyers stipulated: “Giuffre settled her sex-trafficking and sexual-abuse claims against Epstein in 2009. In doing so, she provided Epstein with a general release of all claims against him and numerous other individuals and entities.
“To avoid being dragged into future legal disputes, Epstein negotiated for this broad release, insisting that it cover any and all persons who Giuffre identified as potential targets of future lawsuits, regardless of the merit – or lack thereof – to any such claims.”
The lawyers also stated: “Because Prince Andrew is a senior member of the British royal family, he falls into one of the expressly identified categories of persons, ie, royalty, released from liability under the release agreement, along with politicians, academicians, businessmen, and others allegedly associated with Epstein.
“As a third-party beneficiary of the release agreement, Prince Andrew is entitled to enforce the general release contained therein.”
The lawyers also said high powered constitutional laywer Alan Dershowitz was protected by the agreement. Ms Roberts Giuffre filed a defamation lawsuit against the famous US attorney on 16 April 2019 alleging sexual misconduct at Epstein’s behest. Dershowitz filed the Epstein settlement agreement in his fight against that suit.
“Professor Dershowitz, as a third-party beneficiary of the 2009 settlement agreement, was entitled to rely upon and enforce the terms of that secret deal,” lawyers for Prince Andrew stated.
Judges in the case have stated why the details of the settlement should be made public: “Mr Epstein, as is well known, is deceased. The document is well known to Ms Giuffre and, although under seal, has been available to all parties in these cases for some time.
“We question whether any proper purpose would be served by the continued secrecy of the document save, perhaps, the dollar amount of the settlement it provided for.”
On December 29, judges ordered the unsealing of the agreement.
It comes as Prince Andrew faces a crucial week in his fight against a sexual assault lawsuit brought in New York by a long-time accuser of late financier Jeffrey Epstein and his one-time partner Ghislaine Maxwell.
The release of a legal settlement on Monday and oral arguments in the case on Tuesday come after socialite Maxwell was convicted last week of sex trafficking minors for Epstein.
Roberts Giuffre alleges that Epstein, a money manager who killed himself while awaiting trial in 2019, lent her out for sex with his wealthy and powerful associates, including Prince Andrew.
She has sued the British royal for unspecified damages, alleging he sexually assaulted her in 2001 when she was 17 and a minor under American law.
The 61-year-old Prince Andrew, the Queen’s second son, has not been criminally charged and has repeatedly and strenuously denied the allegations.
Prince Andrew’s lawyers hope unsealing the settlement will be sufficient grounds for a judge to dismiss her lawsuit against the royal.
On Tuesday, New York judge Lewis Kaplan will hear oral arguments on whether to throw out the suit. The 10am (2am AEST) hearing will be held via videoconference.
Attempts by Andrew’s lawyers to halt progression of the lawsuit on the grounds that Ms Roberts Giuffre now lives in Australia were rejected by Kaplan on Friday.
The day before, Roberts Giuffre’s lawyers demanded that Andrew hand over medical records proving that he is unable to sweat.
In a disastrous 2019 interview with the BBC, Prince Andrew denied Ms Roberts Giuffre’s claim that they had shared a sweaty dance at a London nightclub, saying that at the time he could not sweat due to a condition related to having fought in the 1982 Falklands War.
The legal developments come as Andrew finds himself under fresh pressure after his friend Ghislaine Maxwell was found guilty of recruiting and grooming underage girls for Epstein to abuse.
Maxwell faces life behind bars after being convicted by New York jurors of five of the six counts she faced following a high-profile month-long trial.
Roberts Giuffre says Prince Andrew assaulted her at Epstein’s home in New York, and on his private island in the US Virgin Islands.
She alleges that Andrew also sexually abused her at the London home of Maxwell, who introduced the royal to Epstein in the early 1990s.
Epstein died in a Manhattan jail in 2019 after being charged with child sex trafficking charges, in what New York’s coroner ruled was a suicide.
Prince Andrew has rarely been seen in public since he was forced to quit the royal frontline later that year for failing to distance himself from the disgraced financier.
Kaplan said in November that Roberts Giuffre’s lawsuit against Prince Andrew could go before a New York jury towards the end of 2022.
PRINCE ANDREW WAS MAXWELL GUEST AFTER HE KNEW EPSTEIN WAS PAEDOPHILE
Prince Andrew kept socialising with Ghislaine Maxwell for years after her paedophile boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein first came to police attention and was even the guest of honour at a birthday party.
According to The Sunday Times London, the Duke of York sat directly opposite her at the celebrations at London’s five-star Dorchester Hotel more than two years after he travelled to New York to sever ties with Epstein.
His continued friendship with Maxwell, 60, has come under fresh scrutiny after her conviction in Manhattan last week.
Andrew denies any wrongdoing, but the case reaches a critical point this week when his lawyers will seek to get Roberts Giuffre’s claim thrown out of court.
At a hearing on Tuesday, Andrew’s lawyers will also raise other objections to Roberts Giuffre’s claim in an effort to get it dismissed before it can proceed to a jury trial during the Queen’s platinum jubilee year. In legal filings lodged last week, they argued that Roberts Giuffre (formerly Roberts), now 38, lives in Australia and that the New York court has no jurisdiction over the case.
This weekend a friend of the duke said he is “quietly focused on his own case” and was not distracted by the fallout from the Maxwell trial.
However, Maxwell’s elder brother, Ian, conceded that the guilty verdict – which is likely to mean his sister dies behind bars – piled further pressure on the prince. “Clearly, it’s not helpful,” he said.
Lisa Bloom, a California-based lawyer representing victims of Epstein and Maxwell warned last week that Andrew should be “quaking in his boots”.
Lawyers for the duke have accused Roberts Giuffre of seeking “another payday” at his expense, having previously secured multimillion-pound payouts from Epstein and Maxwell in two civil actions.
Although she was not called to testify at Maxwell’s trial, Giuffre’s name came up repeatedly and jurors appeared to conclude that she was a victim of the couple rather than a recruiter of other teenage girls, as the prince’s lawyers have claimed. The duke was also named in the trial as one of several VIPs who had flown on Epstein’s private jet.
Andrew says that he was first introduced to the financier by Maxwell in 1999 and an image produced by prosecutors revealed that he invited the couple to stay at the Queen’s log cabin in Balmoral the same year.
In 2000, they attended a party at Windsor Castle to mark four royal birthdays, including Andrew’s 40th.
Epstein was first investigated by police in Florida in 2005, and in 2008 he negotiated a plea deal which led to him being jailed for just 13 months for procuring a girl under 18 for prostitution.
Andrew was photographed with Epstein months after his release in New York’s Central Park in December 2010.
The duke told the BBC’s Newsnight program that he had visited the disgraced tycoon to tell him in person that he was ending their friendship.
However, Andrew continued to be close to Maxwell. In December 2012, he was invited as the guest of honour to her 51st birthday party at the China Tang restaurant at the Dorchester.
“The guest list was top notch,” a source said. “There were many very interesting people there who clearly liked her [Maxwell].”
Epstein was not among them as the couple had separated.
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