TOPLINE British royal Prince Andrew on Monday was served with legal papers in the United States relating to a sexual assault lawsuit filed against him by a woman who has accused him of sexually abusing her when she was a minor, which he denies, in a move that deals a major blow to the royal’s attempt to stall the case and leaves him with the prospect of facing a damaging court case.
KEY FACTS
Lawyers for Virginia Giuffre, the accuser, said they sent the civil lawsuit to the prince’s Los Angeles-based lawyer Andrew Brettler by email and FedEx, and both copies were received on Monday, Reuters reported.
Earlier on Monday, the lawsuit papers arrived at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, Sky News reported.
Under U.S. federal rules, Andrew’s team has 21 days to respond to the lawsuit or possibly face a default judgment.
The 61-year-old royal had been accused by a judge in the U.S. of actively evading all efforts to serve him papers with Giuffre’s lawyers, likening the situation to a “game of hide and seek behind palace walls.”
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KEY BACKGROUND
Since 2015, Giuffre has alleged that she was forced by financier Jeffrey Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell to have sex with the prince when she was still a minor. Giuffre said she was sexually abused by the royal at Maxwell’s London home, Epstein’s mansion in Manhattan and on Epstein’s private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands. She is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages from the British royal over “severe and lasting” effects caused by Andrew’s alleged actions. Andrew and his legal team have vehemently denied Giuffre’s accusations and have argued that Giuffre’s claims may be invalid under terms of a 2009 settlement reached by Epstein in Florida. In August 2019, Epstein died by suicide in jail while awaiting sex trafficking charges. Maxwell has remained in custody since her 2020 arrest on sex trafficking charges.
FURTHER READING
Prince Andrew is served accuser’s sexual assault lawsuit in United States (Reuters)
Prince Andrew formally served sex assault lawsuit in US (The Telegraph)
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