Prince Andrew sued by alleged Jeffrey Epstein accuser, Virginia Roberts Giuffre

An alleged victim of Jeffrey Epstein has filed a lawsuit against Prince Andrew, accusing the royal of sexually abusing her.

An alleged victim of disgraced sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has filed a lawsuit against Prince Andrew, accusing the royal of sexually abusing her when she was under the age of 18.

Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who has been outspoken with accusations of being sex trafficked by Epstein and his co-accused, Ghislaine Maxwell, filed the papers in federal court in New York on Monday, local time.

The Duke of York has previously denied all allegations.

In the lawsuit, Giuffre, now 38, accused the British royal of sexually abusing her at Epstein’s mansion in Manhattan and at other locations in 2001, when she was under the age of 18.

She is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.

Prince Andrew is being sued by an alleged Jeffrey Epstein victim. Picture: Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP

“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. 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,” Ms Giuffre added via her lawyers in a statement to ABC News.

“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.

Prince Andrew has not yet responded to the lawsuit.

Virginia Roberts Giuffre filed the lawsuit in New York on Monday. Picture: BBC

In a now infamous interview with the BBC in 2019, Prince Andrew denied ever having sex with Ms Giuffre.

“I’ve said consistently and frequently that we never had any sort of sexual contact whatever,” the Prince said.

The royal went on to say that he “ceased contact” with Epstein after he became aware he was facing charges.

Ms Giuffre, who is now living in Australia, first accused Prince Andrew of sexual abuse in public court filings in December of 2014, in a case brought by alleged Epstein victims against the US Department of Justice.

Ms Giuffre has previously settled two federal lawsuits she filed in connection with Epstein and Ms Maxwell, one with Epstein in 2009 and in her defamation claim against Ms Maxwell in 2017.

There were no admissions of wrongdoing in either case and the financial terms were not disclosed.

Meanwhile, Ms Maxwell is currently awaiting trial on charges she assisted Epstein’s alleged abuse of four underage girls. She has previously denied the allegations.