Prince Andrew Settles Sexual Abuse Lawsuit With Virginia Giuffre

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Prince Andrew reached a settlement in the sexual abuse lawsuit brought by Virginia Giuffre, who had accused the British royal of raping her as a teenager after the two were introduced by Jeffrey Epstein, attorneys announced Tuesday.

News of the settlement came through a court filing by Giuffre's lawyers, who said the financial sum would not be disclosed.

"Prince Andrew intends to make a substantial donation to Ms. Giuffre’s charity in support of victims’ rights," reads the letter sent to Manhattan federal Judge Lewis Kaplan. Andrew did not admit to wrongdoing as part of the settlement, and the letter says only that he "regrets his association with Epstein."

Giuffre, now 38, filed suit last August against Andrew, the 61-year-old son of Queen Elizabeth II. She accused Andrew of raping her at the London home of Epstein's friend, Ghislaine Maxwell, and of sexually assaulting her at Epstein's home in the U.S. Virgin Islands and at his Upper East Side mansion.

"During this encounter, Maxwell forced Plaintiff, a child, and another victim to sit on Prince Andrew’s lap as Prince Andrew touched her," reads Giuffre's complaint, which alleged the abuse happened when she was 17 years old. "During his visit to New York, Prince Andrew forced Plaintiff to engage in sex acts against her will."

Before the settlement, Andrew had been scheduled for a deposition, in which Giuffre's lawyers would have questioned him under oath, as the New York Times reported Tuesday. Andrew was stripped of his royal duties by the Queen last month as the scandal continued to embarrass the royal family.

As the Times reported Tuesday, the settlement letter — in which Andrew "commends the bravery of Ms. Giuffre and other survivors" — is a stark turnaround from his attorneys' initial posture in court.

Last fall, asking Judge Kaplan to dismiss Giuffre's suit, Andrew's attorneys had accused Giuffre of trying to profit from her claims, writing that Giuffre had "initiated this baseless lawsuit against Prince Andrew to achieve another payday at his expense and at the expense of those closest to him."

By this week, Andrew's attorneys wrote that he had "never intended to malign Ms. Giuffre’s character, and he accepts that she has suffered both as an established victim of abuse and as a result of unfair public attacks."

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