Paedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s 2009 settlement with ‘sex slave’ Virginia Giuffre – which could directly impact Prince Andrew’s New York case – will be made public on MONDAY, judges rule
- US District Judges Lewis Kaplan and Loretta Preska ordered agreement’s release
- Kaplan oversees Virginia Giuffre’s lawsuit accusing the Duke of sexual abuse
- Preska oversees Giuffre’s lawsuit accusing Prof Alan Dershowitz of defaming her
- The Duke of York has consistently and vehemently denied Giuffre’s claims
A 2009 settlement agreement between Jeffrey Epstein and Virginia Giuffre, which could directly impact her civil lawsuit accusing Prince Andrew of sexual abuse, will be made public on Monday.
In a joint order on Wednesday, US District Judges Lewis Kaplan and Loretta Preska in Manhattan ordered the agreement’s release on or around January 3, 2022, finding no reason to keep it under seal.
Kaplan oversees Giuffre’s lawsuit accusing Andrew of abusing her at two of Epstein’s homes and forcing her to have sex more than two decades ago when she was under 18 at the London home of Ghislaine Maxwell.
The Duke of York has consistently and vehemently denied Giuffre’s claims.
Preska oversees Giuffre’s lawsuit accusing Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz of defaming her when he denied her claim that he was among the men Epstein compelled her to have sex with.
It comes as former Epstein associate Maxwell is found guilty by a US jury of helping the financier sexually abuse teenage girls.
A 2009 settlement agreement between the late financier Jeffrey Epstein and Virginia Giuffre, which bears directly on her civil lawsuit accusing Prince Andrew (pictured on April 11) of sexual abuse, will be made public early next week
Virginia Giuffre, pictured centre front, with attorney Sigrid Macawley, right, following a hearing in the Jeffrey Epstein case on August 27, 2019, in New York
The prince’s lawyer, Andrew Brettler, has contended that the 2009 settlement with Epstein released the Duke of York from liability from Giuffre’s lawsuit because it covered ‘royalty,’ and Epstein insisted it cover anyone Giuffre might sue.
Giuffre’s lawyer, David Boies, countered that the settlement applied ‘at most’ to people involved in underlying litigation in Florida, where Epstein had a home, and that Prince Andrew should not use it as a ‘get out of jail free card.’
Andrew has not been charged with crimes. Giuffre’s civil lawsuit seeks unspecified damages.
Kaplan is scheduled on January 4, 2022 to hear oral arguments on whether to dismiss Giuffre’s lawsuit against Andrew.
In a filing on Tuesday, Brettler called for the case to be halted or thrown out because Giuffre has long lived in Australia, depriving the Manhattan court of jurisdiction, and cannot support her claim that she is a Colorado resident.
Sigrid McCawley, another lawyer for Giuffre, in a statement called that argument ‘another in a series of tired attempts by Prince Andrew to duck and dodge the legal merits of the serious case Virginia Giuffre has brought.’
It comes as former Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell (both pictured above) is found guilty by a US jury of helping the financier sexually abuse teenage girls
Kaplan oversees Giuffre’s lawsuit accusing Andrew of abusing her at two of Epstein’s homes and forcing her to have sex more than two decades ago when she was under 18 at the London home of Ghislaine Maxwell (Giuffre pictured in a BBC Panorama interview in 2019)
Meanwhile, in a separate sex trafficking case, a jury of six men and six women found Maxwell guilty on five of six counts – all except enticing an individual under the age of 17 to travel with intent to engage in illegal sex acts.
She faces a maximum sentence of 65 years in prison. The sixth count – sex trafficking of an individual under the age of 18 – carries a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison.
The New York trial heard how she summoned a 14-year-old girl to an orgy, groped another victim and laid a schoolgirl outfit out for a third accuser before a sexualised massage with Epstein because she ‘thought it would be fun’.
The court in the Southern District of New York heard Maxwell imposed a ‘culture of silence… by design’ at Epstein’s properties, where staff were told to ‘see nothing, hear nothing and say nothing’.
A jury found Maxwell (court sketch above) guilty on five of six counts – all except enticing an individual under the age of 17 to travel with intent to engage in illegal sex acts
While the ‘horrific abuse’ was going on, the jury was told how the defendant lived a ‘life of luxury’ – with the prosecution describing the trafficking as a ‘means to support her lifestyle’.
The jury accepted the prosecution’s case that Maxwell and Epstein’s youngest victim, who was 14 when she was ‘recruited’, did not know that ‘this man and woman were predators’.
The full indictment against Maxwell listed six charges, including conspiracy to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, enticement of a minor to travel to engage in illegal sex acts and conspiracy to transport minors with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity.
Maxwell was also accused of transporting a minor with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, sex trafficking conspiracy, sex trafficking of a minor and lying under oath by hiding her participation in Epstein’s offences during a separate civil case.
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