Prince Andrew refused to co-operate with police and ‘stonewalled’ lawyers, lawsuit claims
Continued refusals by Prince Andrew to meet with the FBI despite a “public pledge” to do so have been revealed in a new lawsuit.
Court documents filed by alleged sexual abuse victim Virginia Giuffre claim Prince Andrew repeatedly refused to assist US authorities with their investigation into disgraced sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.
Ms Giuffre, nee Roberts, filed a lawsuit in New York on Monday accusing the royal of sexually abusing her when she was under the age of 18.
The now 38-year-old has been outspoken with accusations of being sex trafficked by Epstein and Ms Maxwell, and in the lawsuit claims she was “lent out to other powerful men for sexual purposes”, naming Prince Andrew as one of these men.
She has accused him of sexually abusing her at Epstein’s mansion in Manhattan and at other locations in 2001, when she was under the age of 18.
The Duke of York has previously denied all allegations.
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The lawsuit also notes the occasions when the royal “publicly pledged” to help US authorities with their investigations into Epstein and Ms Maxwell, including “‘in a statement stepping down from his public duties and in his Newsnight interview”.
“Despite this public pledge, Prince Andrew has refused to co-operate with US authorities,” the court documents state.
The lawsuit also claims the royal and his representatives “have responded by escalating their vile and baseless attacks on [Ms Giuffre]”.
The court documents also state Prince Andrew “stonewalled” communications from Ms Giuffre’s legal team after they proposed a “tolling agreement” that would mean she wouldn’t sue the Duke at this time but would be able to do so in the future by any statute of limitations.
“Again Prince Andrew stonewalled – ignoring [Ms Giuffre’s] letter and emails without any reply or response, thereby making this action necessary now,” the court documents state.
A spokesman for Buckingham Palace declined to comment on the lawsuit and a public relations company representing Andrew e-mailed a “no comment” response to the AFP.
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‘Stop being a gutless coward’: Morgan
Former Good Morning Britain presenter Piers Morgan weighed in on the lawsuit, writing in an opinion piece for the Daily Mail that Prince Andrew “must either come clean to the FBI or be forever damned for his cowardly silence”.
“With every day that goes by without Andrew submitting himself to any form of legal accountability, the finger of suspicion against him grows larger,” Morgan said.
Due to the shocking nature of the claims outlined in the lawsuit, Morgan states the royal must either co-operate with US authorities or risk having the public “draw our own conclusions from his refusal”.
He noted how Prince Andrew’s 2019 BBC interview in which he denied ever meeting Ms Giuffre only served to bring more scrutiny onto the royal, rather than clear his name.
“I’ve said consistently and frequently that we never had any sort of sexual contact whatever,” the Prince said in the interview.
The royal went on to say that he “ceased contact” with Epstein after he became aware he was facing charges.
Morgan said all the interview achieved as to “throw a gargantuan barrel of fuel” over the whole situation.
“The more Andrew refuses to co-operate, the worse the situation gets for him and the more damage he does to the reputation of the Monarchy,” Morgan writes.
“Stop being a gutless coward, Andrew – and face the music.
“Or the court of public opinion will convict you, and never forgive you.”
‘I am holding Prince Andrew accountable’
Ms Giuffre said her decision to file a lawsuit against Prince Andrew was not an easy one, but she felt if she didn’t then she would be “letting victims everywhere down”.
She is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
“Twenty years ago, Prince Andrew’s wealth, power, position and connections enabled him to abuse a frightened, vulnerable child with no one there to protect her. It is long past the time for him to be held to account,” the lawsuit states.
“I am holding Prince Andrew accountable for what he did to me. The powerful and the rich are not exempt from being held responsible for their actions,” Ms Giuffre added via her lawyers in a statement to ABC News.
“I hope that other victims will see that it is possible not to live in silence and fear, but one can reclaim her life by speaking out and demanding justice.
“I did not come to this decision lightly. As a mother and a wife, my family comes first. I know that this action will subject me to further attacks by Prince Andrew and his surrogates.
“But I knew that if I did not pursue this action, I would be letting them and victims everywhere down.”
According to the ABC, the legal action has been filed just days before the expiration date of a New York State law permitting alleged victims of childhood sexual abuse to file civil claims that might otherwise be blocked by statutes of limitations.
“If she doesn’t do it now, she would be allowing him to escape any accountability for his actions,” Ms Giuffre’s lawyer, David Boies, chairman of Boies Schiller Flexner, told ABC News.
“Virginia is committed to trying to avoid situations where rich and powerful people escape any accountability for their actions.”
The lawsuit also came just a day shy of the two-year anniversary of Epstein’s death in a New York jail while he was awaiting trial on conspiracy and child sex trafficking charges.
– With Lexi Cartwright
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