After the judgment of Ghislaine Maxwell, all eyes are now on the prince andrew. The next few days will indeed be crucial for the Duke of York, who is the subject of a complaint for “sexual assault”, filed last summer in a civil court in New York. As AFP reports, American justice is preparing to examine the validity of the complaint of Virginia giuffre, who says she was assaulted by the Briton three times in 2001, when she was 17 years old.
Prince Andrew is said to have met Virginia Giuffre through American multimillionaire Jeffrey Epstein and his partner, British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell. If the first committed suicide in prison in New York, in 2019, before his own trial for sex crimes, his accomplice has just been convicted of sex trafficking of minors. The American Virginia Giuffre, who was not a party to the Maxwell trial, welcomed the judgment and said she hoped that others “accountableShe is also awaiting financial redress with her civil (not criminal) proceedings, but according to Prince Andrew’s lawyers, she has already received “millions of dollars” after an out-of-court settlement dating back to 2017, following lawsuits against Ghislaine Maxwell.
This Monday January 3, must be published a first agreement sealed in 2009 before American justice between Jeffrey Epstein and Virginia Giuffre, by order of the two judges of the Manhattan federal court in charge of this case, Lewis Kaplan and Loretta Preska. Prince Andrew’s lawyers have said for months that the deal protects their client and other protagonists from any legal action by Virginia Giuffre. Tuesday morning, a videoconference hearing is expected to be held between Judge Kaplan and lawyers for both sides to see if the complaint should be dismissed for this reason.
A prince deprived of titles?
The judge has already rejected Friday another nullity request formulated by the Briton of 61 years, on the grounds that the American could not take legal action in New York because she “resides” in Australia and not in the United States. United. If all recourse by Prince Andrew’s advisers to block this complaint fails, a civil trial could be held “between September and December” 2022. In his last BBC interview in November 2019, Queen Elizabeth’s son denied any accusation of sexual assault. Following this disastrous interview, he was forced to retire from public life.
Sarah Ferguson’s ex-husband and father of Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice may even be forced to relinquish his title of Duke of York. According to the information of the Sunday Times, brokers have already discussed this possibility, if he were to lose his American lawsuit. “If he loses the case … what to do with him? You can’t get him to resign like you would a normal person, but he would be asked to put his duchy on hold.“, commented a source close to the case. Unsurprisingly, a spokesperson for Buckingham Palace tried to temper:”This is speculation and the comments are without merit. We would not comment on an ongoing legal matter.“