Prince Andrew has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
Prince Andrew’s accuser Virginia Giuffre claimed that she was paid thousands of dollars by convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein to have sex with the royal when she was 17, court documents revealed. According to Sky News, the legal papers are among the latest batch released relating to Ms Giuffre’s civil defamation case against Epstein’s ex-girlfriend and long-time associate Ghislaine Maxwell, which was filed in 2015 and settled two years later. In the court documents, Mr Giuffre was asked by lawyers about the occasion when she claims to have spent time with Prince Andrew in 2001.
“Were you paid 10 to $15,000 by or on behalf of Jeffrey Epstein for having sex with Prince Andrew?” Ms Giuffre was asked, as per the outlet. She responded, “Yes, I did receive $15,000. I don’t know what equivalent that is to pounds. I received it in American dollars”. Ms Guiffre was then asked if she paid taxes on the money, and she said no.
Notably, Prince Andrew has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. But Ms Giuffre has previously stated that her first experience with the royal took place at the London home of Ghislaine Maxwell when she was 17. Maxwell, however, has denied the allegations and is currently serving a 20-year sentence in federal prison for her role in sex trafficking girls alongside Epstein. The disgraced financier died while awaiting trial on federal conspiracy and sex trafficking charges in 2019.
Ms Giuffre previously alleged she was forced to have sex with Prince Andrew 3 times between 1999 and 2002 in London, New York and on a private Caribbean island owned by Epstein. Elsewhere in the deposition, she talked about an undated visit to a Club with Prince Andrew, where he ordered them “clear drinks” from the bar and said that her drink contained alcohol.
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Andrew withdrew from frontline royal duties in late 2019 after public outrage at a BBC television interview in which he defended his friendship with Epstein. In February 2022 settled a US civil case brought by Ms Giuffre, who claimed he sexually assaulted her when she was 17.
Andrew’s mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, stripped him of his honorary military titles and patronages soon afterward, effectively shutting him out of royal life. He has consistently denied sexual assault and even meeting Ms Giuffre.
Jeffrey Epstein socialized with Wall Street titans, royalty, and celebrities before pleading guilty to soliciting prostitution from a minor in 2008. He took his own life in 2019 at age 66 while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges.
