Britain’s Prince Andrew was sued on Monday for having allegedly on three occasions sexually abused a woman who says she was trafficked for sex by the late financier Jeffrey Epstein. In a civil complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, Virginia Giuffre said the Duke of York, Queen Elizabeth’s second son, sexually assaulted and battered her about two decades ago, when she was 17 and Epstein was also abusing her.
Giuffre’s lawsuit claims that the prince sexually abused her on multiple occasions in 2001, including in Epstein’s New York mansion and at the London home of Ghislaine Maxwell, who has been linked to Epstein and charged with sex trafficking. Epstein died two years ago from apparent suicide in a federal prison in Manhattan, where he was awaiting trial on federal child sex trafficking charges. Andrew, the second son of Queen Elizabeth II, has repeatedly denied having sexual contact with Giuffre and told BBC Newsnight in 2019 that he had “no recollection” of ever meeting her. ABC News reported Monday that Giuffre’s lawsuit comes just days before the expiration of a New York state law that allows alleged victims of childhood sexual abuse to file civil claims when criminal charges might otherwise be barred by statutes of limitations.
Andrew, 61, is one of the most prominent people linked to Epstein, who Manhattan federal prosecutors charged in July 2019 with sexually exploiting dozens of girls and women.
