For Prince Andrew nothing is going well. Judge Lewis Kaplan has ruled, a sexual assault trial will stand up against Queen Elizabeth II’s son in US courts next fall, reveals British newspaper the Daily Mail.
The answer was expected on January 4, it will have taken a little longer than expected to arrive but it is a blow to Prince Andrew. Last August, the latter saw Virginia Giuffre who accuses him of sexual abuse for many years, bring a civil complaint against him, before the American courts. A British prince tried for sex crimes in an American court: no one, then, imagined such a thing possible …
Prince Andrew’s legal teams threw their forces into battle trying at all costs not to see the unthinkable happen. Prince Andrew has thus played hide and seek with the complainant’s legal team, to avoid the order to appear. His lawyer Andrew Brettler also tried to argue that an agreement signed with the sulphurous Jeffrey Epstein in 2009 ended the complaint of Virginia Giuffre.
Judge Lewis Kaplan not convinced by defense arguments
Latest coup to date, the lawyers of the brother of Prince Charles, asked on December 28, to an American court to declare that he was not competent to hear the complaint of Virginia Giuffre against the Duke of York. To justify their request, the lawyers relied on the fact that Virginia Giuffre declared herself a citizen of the state of Colorado while the young woman of today 38 years old lives, in reality in Perth, in Australia with her husband and their three children. “In reality, Ms. Giuffre’s ties to Colorado are very limited, could one read in particular in the five-page document submitted to the court. She hasn’t lived there since at least 2019 – about two years before she filed this complaint. “
“Before filing this action, but long after returning to Australia, Ms Giuffre registered to vote for the first time in Colorado using her mother’s home address – the timing of Ms. Giuffre’s voter registration is suspect and appears to be a calculated decision“, had argued the legal team of the ex-companion of Sarah Ferguson.
All of these arguments did not seem to convince Judge Lewis Kaplan who had to decide whether a trial should be held. Did the conviction of Ghislaine Maxwell play a role in his decision? In any case, following a hearing in New York, the judge rejected the request of Prince Andrew’s lawyers, announce the Daily Mail this Wednesday January 12. A historic trial should therefore begin in the fall. An additional cause for concern for Queen Elizabeth II …