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Virginia Giuffre: Jeffrey Epstein deal with victim unsealed

January 3, 2022

The agreement shows that Jeffrey Epstein paid Virginia Giuffre $500,000 over sexual abuse allegations. The filing was unsealed as part of her civil litigation with the UK's Prince Andrew.

https://p.dw.com/p/455w2
Virginia Roberts Giuffre, center, who says she was trafficked by sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, holds a news conference outside a Manhattan court
Virginia Roberts Giuffre says she was trafficked by sex offender Jeffrey EpsteinImage: Bebeto Matthews/AP/picture alliance

Virginia Giuffre, the most prominent accuser of the late Jeffrey Epstein, received a $500,000 (€443,000) settlement from him as part of an agreement that precluded her from suing "any other person or entity who could be named as a defendant."

Details of the deal were made public in New York on Monday.

The 2009 settlement has resurfaced as Virginia Giuffre, 38, has sued Britain's Prince Andrew.

Who is Virginia Giuffre?

Giuffre says she was trafficked by Epstein and his companion, Ghislaine Maxwell, to the couple's wealthy and powerful friends when she was just 17 years old.

A US court must now decide if the terms of the settlement prohibit Giuffre from proceeding with her lawsuit against Prince Andrew who she said raped her.

Giuffre alleges that Prince Andrew sexually assaulted her at Maxwell's London residence.

Prince Andrew has denied the allegations and is seeking a dismissal of the lawsuit. There is a court hearing scheduled for Tuesday.

What happens next?

US District Judge Lewis Kaplan will decide whether Giuffre's suit can go forward.

Giuffre is seeking unspecified damages from Prince Andrew.

Prince Andrew asserts Giuffre is after a "payday." He does not face any criminal charges. His lawyers have attacked her efforts on the grounds that she has lived in Australia for the better part of the last 20 years and is not a resident of the US state of Colorado, where her mother lives and Giuffre claims residency.

He argues Epstein's previously confidential settlement with Giuffre protects him from liability. 

In a widely criticized interview with BBC Newsnight in 2019, Prince Andrew claimed to have "no recollection" of meeting Giuffre and said of her claims that he forced her to have intercourse that "it did not happen."

The interview was so devastating for the prince that he was asked to step back from his duties as a member of the royal household afterwards. Prince Andrew is Queen Elizabeth II's second son.

Epstein killed himself at the age of 66 in 2019 while in federal detention awaiting trial in New York City.

ar/rt (AFP, AP, Reuters)