Prince Andrew, the son of the British Queen, was rebuffed with his objection in New York. He will now probably have to face a trial for the sexual abuse of Virginia Giuffre, who was a minor at the time.
Giuffre accuses the royal of sexually abusing entrepreneurs Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell and forcing them to have sex with the prince. She was only 17 at the time. She filed a lawsuit in August. Since then, Andrews’ lawyers have been trying to avert a process. On Wednesday, the last attempt for the time being was rejected by a court in New York, including the “Guardian” reported.
Legal representatives argued that Giuffre made a settlement with Epstein in 2009 that also protects the prince. The documents were released to the public in early January, and Giuffre received half a million dollars at the time, in exchange for not suing Epstein and third parties. The royal was not mentioned by name.
Ghislaine Maxwell was found guilty of sex crimes against a minor in early January.
There are no criminal investigations against Andrew. Because of the allegations, the prince resigned his official duties for the royal family in 2019. Shortly before, he had tried to refute the allegations in a BBC interview, but was not able to convince.
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