Prince Andrew is reportedly putting together a $12 million war chest to launch a legal case against sexual assault accuser Virginia Giuffre in a bid to force her to recant the allegations, and possibly apologize, in court.
In a civil lawsuit filed in 2020, Giuffre accused the Duke of York of raping and abusing her three times in 2001 when she was just 17.
Although Prince Andrew has refuted any wrongdoing, he accepted an out-of-court settlement paid to Giuffre in February 2022 amid pressure from Buckingham Palace that damaging headlines distracted from Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee.
The settlement amount was reported to be between $3.6 million and $14.8 million.
GHISLAINE MAXWELL CLAIMS PRINCE ANDREW, VIRGINIA GUIFFRE’S PHOTO IS ‘FAKE’, HAS NO ‘MEMORY’ OF THE PAIR’S MEETING
The 2001 photo that was included in court files shows Prince Andrew with his arm around the waist of 17-year-old Virginia Giuffre, who says Jeffrey Epstein paid her to have sex with the prince. Andrew has denied the charges. In the background is Epstein’s girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell.
(US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit)
“Andrew has always insisted that he is innocent and finally wants to prove it in a US court,” an unnamed royal source told The Sun. “He was pressured into solving the case to avoid overshadowing the Platinum Jubilee and has paid a heavy price, personally and professionally.”
“The king is happy that he is continuing with this,” the source added. “As head of state, he can’t publicly endorse him, but Andrew is still his brother and he wants what’s best for him.”
The Telegraph reported that Prince Andrew consulted with his lawyers after Giuffre withdrew a separate sexual abuse lawsuit against US lawyer Alan Dershowitz in November.
Prince Andrew at the thanksgiving service at St. Giles Church in Edinburgh
(FoxNews)
In what the Duke of York saw as an “extraordinary development”, Giuffre admitted in court documents that she “might have made a mistake” in claiming that Dershowitz had abused her as a teenager.
The Mirror reported that one of Prince Andrew’s top lawyers told him he could “forget it”, advising the Duke of York not to go after Giuffre and that he should “just be thankful he’s not in jail”.
Although he has denied the sexual abuse allegations even in the settlement, Prince Andrew was stripped of his military titles and charity endorsements and ordered not to use his title of His Royal Highness. His new legal fight against Giuffre could set the stage for the Duke of York’s eventual return to royal duties.
Virginia Giuffre has long alleged that the Duke of York abused her as a minor.
(fake images)
In her first post-conviction interview behind bars to air Monday on TalkTV, Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence in a Florida federal prison for her role in a scheme to sexually exploit and abuse several underage girls with jeffrey epstein Over the course of a decade, she has claimed that the infamous photo showing Prince Andrew and Giuffre at their London home in 2001 is “fake.”
The disgraced Oxford-educated socialite also claims she “can’t remember” introducing the couple.
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In an interview with BBC Newsnight in 2019, Prince Andrew had already denied knowing Giuffre and claimed that the photo of the two at Maxwell’s house could have been doctored.
The Duke of York is reportedly raising funds for the new legal fight against Giuffre after he and ex-wife Sarah Ferguson sold their Swiss chalet last year for around $12 million, The Sun reported. The Queen has also reportedly left Prince Andrew several million pounds in inheritance.
