Prince Andrew and his accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre have settled the sex-abuse lawsuit she filed against him, which has damaged his reputation beyond repair and threatened to overshadow his mother Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations this summer.
Lawyers for both sides filed documents Tuesday in federal court in New York, declaring the parties had reached an out-of-court settlement for an undisclosed sum and a “substantial donation” to Giuffre’s charity “in support of victim’s rights.”
The Duke of York, 61, also expressed regret for his former friendship with convicted American sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who Giuffre alleged had trafficked her to Andrew when she was 17.
Prince Andrew lawsuit:Queen Elizabeth removes the Duke of York’s military titles, patronages amid allegations
Since she began accusing him publicly in 2015, Andrew has vigorously denied her allegations.
“Prince Andrew has 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,” according to one of the documents filed in court.
“Prince Andrew regrets his association with Epstein, and commends the bravery of Ms. Giuffre and other survivors in standing up for themselves and others. He pledges to demonstrate his regret for his association with Epstein by supporting the fight against the evils of sex trafficking, and by supporting its victims.”
Prince Andrew timeline:From official denials to a settled sex-abuse lawsuit, a look at key events
In a separate letter, Giuffre’s New York lawyer, David Boies, advised U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan that the parties had reached a settlement.
“The parties anticipate filing a stipulation of dismissal of the case within thirty (30) days,” the letter said.
USA TODAY reached out to Andrew’s Los Angeles lawyer, Andrew Brettler, for a comment.
Depositions in the case had been set for the spring and a trial for the fall. Now all of that, with the possibility of more embarrassing revelations, will not happen.
What’s the difference between queen and ‘Queen Consort’? Camilla’s future title, explained
Andrew, the queen’s second son, had already stepped back from his senior royal role in 2019, and was stripped by the queen of his military and charitable associations last month.
But the Giuffre lawsuit, which she filed last summer, promised months of bad headlines just as Britain prepared to mark the queen’s 70 years on the throne with a four-day jubilee in June.
Boies told USA TODAY last month that a settlement was not off the table but stressed that Giuffre, 38, who has filed multiple lawsuits over the years in connection with her allegations against Epstein, wanted to be “vindicated” about her specific allegations against Andrew.
70 years and counting:Why Queen Elizabeth II marks her accession to the throne as a day of private reflection
Giuffre, an American who now lives in Australia, has long alleged that she was trafficked to Andrew by Epstein three times in London, New York and the Virgin Islands around 2001 when she was a teenager, and that Andrew knew it at the time.
Andrew, in a 2019 BBC interview that went off the rails, reiterated his denials, saying among other things that he did not remember meeting Giuffre, despite a picture of them together circulating on the internet, and that he was at a pizza restaurant with one of his two daughters when she claimed they danced together at a London nightclub.
Giuffre has collected multiple settlements from past lawsuits she’s filed, including from Epstein, who killed himself in a federal jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.
During the proceedings of Giuffre’s lawsuit against Andrew, unsealed documents showed Epstein paid her $500,000 in 2009 to settle a lawsuit she filed against him in Florida.
Prince Harry wants Archie, Lilibet to visit the U.K.:But only if he can pay for police protection
George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism