Prince Andrew Accuser Virginia Giuffre’s $500k Settlement With Epstein Revealed In New Document
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A confidential deal between Jeffrey Epstein and Virginia Roberts Giuffre has been made public after US judges determined there was no reason for it to remain secret.
US District Judges Lewis Kaplan and Loretta Preska ordered the agreement be released today, January 3, 2022, before Prince Andrew seeks to dismiss a lawsuit brought against him by Giuffre tomorrow.
The document reveals that Epstein agreed to pay Giuffre $500,000 (£370,000) to end her legal claims against him, and that Giuffre agreed not to sue anyone connected to Epstein who could be described as a ‘potential defendant’.
Giuffre has accused the Duke of York of sexually assaulting her on three occasions when she was under the age of 18, while she was allegedly a victim of sex trafficking and abuse by Epstein. The alleged abuse is said to have taken place in London, New York and the Virgin Islands.
Andrew’s lawyers claim the agreement, made in 2009, protects the prince from the claims as it was intended to cover all of Giuffre’s future accusations about Epstein’s alleged sex trafficking scheme, including references to ‘royalty’.
The lawyers were granted access to the document in October 2021, when Giuffre’s lawyers offered to release it with the belief it would be ‘irrelevant’ to the case.
Today it was revealed that Giuffre agreed in the 2009 document to dismiss her lawsuit against Epstein ‘upon payment and clearance of the settlement amount’, as well as to ‘forever discharge… any other person or entity who could have been included as a potential defendant… from all, and all manner of, action and actions of Virginia Roberts, including state or federal…’, Sky News reports.
The document also states that the agreement ‘represents a final resolution of a disputed claim and is intended to avoid litigation’, adding: ‘The settlement agreement shall not be construed to be an admission of liability or fault by any party’.
Those involved in the settlement, which relates to a Florida state case which Andrew was not involved in, had agreed it was ‘not intended to be used by any other person, nor be admissible in any proceeding or case against or involving Jeffrey Epstein, either civil or criminal’, the document says.
Lawyer Andrew Brettler previously told a New York hearing the agreement ‘releases Prince Andrew and others from any purported liability arising from the claims Ms Giuffre asserted against Prince Andrew here’, BBC News reports.
The prince’s lawyers are expected to use the agreement as grounds for the dismissal of Giuffre’s sexual assault lawsuit, in which she is seeking unspecified damages.
The request to dismiss the case is set to take place over a video teleconference with Judge Kaplan, however Giuffre’s lawyers have argued the prince’s lawyers should not use the agreement as a ‘get out of jail free card’.
Per Sky News, they argue the agreement applies ‘at most’ to people involved in the underlying litigation in Florida.
Andrew has denied all of the allegations made by Giuffre, with his lawyers saying they ‘unequivocally’ deny the claims while the prince himself told BBC Newsnight ‘it didn’t happen’.
Speaking in 2019, he continued: ‘I can absolutely categorically tell you it never happened. I have no recollection of ever meeting this lady, none whatsoever.’
If judges choose to deny Andrew’s request for dismissal, a trial could be held between September and December 2022.
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Topics: News, Jeffrey Epstein, Now, Prince Andrew, Sexual abuse, Virginia Giuffre, Virginia Roberts Giuffre
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