Andrew’s lawyers ask for original photograph of him with accuser
The Prince’s lawyers ask Virginia Giuffre for an original of a 2001 photo, as they prepare to suggest it may be fake.
Prince Andrew’s lawyers have asked Virginia Giuffre to hand over the original copy of a photograph that shows them together at Ghislaine Maxwell’s home in Belgravia in 2001, as they prepare to suggest that the image may be a fake.
The picture, featuring the Duke of York with his arm around Giuffre, with Maxwell standing just behind them, remains a critical piece of evidence in the sexual assault lawsuit she has filed against him in a New York court.
In the complaint setting out her allegations, Giuffre’s lawyers say the photograph “depicts Prince Andrew, [Giuffre], and Maxwell at Maxwell’s home prior to Prince Andrew sexually abusing [Giuffre]”.
The duke denies the allegations.
His lawyers have asked that she produce the original photograph as part of the discovery process, in which each side asks the other to produce evidence and information.
“There are concerns about the authenticity of the photograph,” a source familiar with the proceedings said.
“The duke’s legal team requested the original and it has not been provided to them.”
His lawyers are expected to call on a photographic expert to raise doubts about the image.
According to Giuffre, the photograph was taken in March 2001 on her own camera by Jeffrey Epstein.
In 2011, after Epstein had been jailed for sex offences, a reporter from The Mail on Sunday asked Giuffre if she had any evidence to back up her own allegations, that he had trafficked her to a series of prominent men.
Giuffre said she had a photograph of herself posing with the prince. The paper paid her 140,000 dollars to publish it, plus 20,000 dollars for two interviews, she said in a 2016 interview with Maxwell’s lawyers.
Giuffre gave this deposition as part of a defamation suit she filed against Maxwell, who had denied her claims that she and Epstein trafficked Giuffre to the duke when she was a teenager.
“Where is the original of the photograph?” Maxwell’s lawyer, Laura Menninger, asked. Giuffre said she had briefly lent it to the FBI in 2011, and that she had last seen it in 2015.
Giuffre’s lawyers have not replied to requests for comment.
The Times
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