Prince Andrew and the law firm representing him, Blackfords, have been accused of "stonewalling" allegations of sexual assault launched against the royal by a purported Jeffrey Epstein victim.
David Boies, the New York lawyer for Virginia Giuffre (née Roberts), who filed a lawsuit in the federal court in New York against the Duke of York on 9 August, claims all attempts to encourage the Prince to engage with him and his client have failed.
"We've reached out to Prince Andrew's legal team, a number of times over the last five years, we've made an attempt to engage with him to give him an opportunity to tell his side of the story, to provide any explanation or context, that he might have for his actions to try to resolve this without the necessity of litigation,” Boies was cited by Sky News as saying.
On Sunday, Virginia Giuffre, now 38, who lives in Australia with her husband and three children, filed a civil lawsuit against Prince Andrew.
The woman testified that, against her will, she was “trafficked out” by the late financier and convicted pedophile to have sex with the British royal three times in 2001, while she was 17. Giuffre is now seeking “accountability” from her purported abuser and is demanding compensation for physical and mental damage.
Prince Andrew has vehemently denied any wrongdoing. In a BBC Newsnight interview in 2019, the second son of Queen Elizabeth II said he had never had sex with Giuffre, saying: "I can absolutely categorically tell you it never happened."
The Duke, who is now a permanently nonactive member of the royal family, claimed he had "no recollection" of ever meeting his accuser and that there were "a number of things that are wrong" about her account. He also suggested a photo supposedly showing him with Virginia Giuffre may have been doctored.
Prince Andrew, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, and Ghislaine Maxwell. This photo was included in an affidavit in which Giuffre alleged that she was directed to have sex with Andrew
© Photo : Florida Southern District Court
David Boies deplored the fact that “every effort” to reach out to Prince Andrew “had been rebuffed."
"They have totally stonewalled us just like they've stonewalled the criminal prosecutors in the United States. As a result, we've not been able to have a dialogue with him. They [Prince Andrew's team] have been totally uncooperative, not only with us, but with all of the lawyers representing victims of Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking."
The lawsuit filed by Virginia Giuffre underscores that despite promising in his “car crash” BBC interview to cooperate with the FBI criminal probe into the activities by Epstein and Maxwell, Prince Andrew failed to act on his pledge.
In January 2020 the United States attorney in Manhattan had stated, “To date, Prince Andrew has provided zero cooperation.”
Speaking on Channel 4 after the lawsuit was filed, Boies remarked that Prince Andrew “can ignore me. And he can ignore Virginia … but he can't ignore judicial process.”
"The court process now is going to compel him. If he were to try to ignore the court the way he's ignored us, there would be a default judgment entered against them. That could be enforced in the United States or in England or elsewhere in the world. So I don't think he's going to ignore the court. And as a result, he's going to be held to account," said the lawyer representing Virginia Giuffre.
The legal action against the embattled royal was taken days before the expiration date of the Child Victims Act - a New York state law determining the time frame during which individuals can file lawsuits alleging they were sexually abused as children.
There has not been any comment on the remarks made by Boies from the legal team representing the Duke of York.
Epstein’s ‘Madam’ Ready to ‘Testify’
This comes as disgraced British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell is reportedly prepared to give evidence to help Prince Andrew fight the sex abuse lawsuit. Friends of the woman who is accused of being Jeffrey Epstein’s “pimp” claim she will support the royal's assertions, reported The Telegraph.
However, Maxwell – the daughter of publishing tycoon Robert Maxwell, who died in 1991, is currently in custody awaiting a trial scheduled for November. The Maxwell, who is believed to have had a romantic relationship with millionaire Epstein for several years in the early 1990s, was arrested in July 2020 and charged with sex trafficking of minors for the tycoon and perjury, among other things. She faces up to 35 years in prison. The British socialite has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Jeffrey Epstein Associate
© AP Photo / John Minchillo
Accordingly, for Maxwell to be considered a credible witness, she would first have to be cleared of wrongdoing in her own trial.
“By the time the case against the Duke gets to court, Ghislaine will either be convicted and serving up to 85 years in jail [or if] cleared of course she would help Prince Andrew. They have been friends for a very long time. It is highly likely Ghislaine will offer to assist him,” a source was cited by The Telegraph as saying.
American financier Jeffrey Epstein was accused of creating a criminal network for the sexual exploitation of girls, including minors. The convicted pedophile, known to be a confidante of the wealthy ‘elite’, including US Presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, was arrested in New York in July, 2019. A month later, the sexual predator died at a federal Manhattan prison under suspicious circumstances, with his death officially ruled a suicide.