A woman suing Prince Andrew for sexual assault agreed in a confidential 2009 settlement with Jeffrey Epstein to release âany other personâ involved in the case from litigation in exchange for $500,000.
Virginia Giuffreâs lawsuit against Queen Elizabethâs second son is barred by that language, newly revealed in documents unsealed on Monday, Andrew claims. But her lawyer, David Boies, says itâs a red herring.
âThe release is irrelevant to Ms. Giuffreâs claim against Prince Andrew,â said Boies. âThe release does not mention Prince Andrew.â
The issue will be aired in Manhattan federal court on Tuesday, when U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan hears arguments on Andrewâs motion to dismiss the suit. Giuffre claims the British royal was one of several powerful men to whom Epstein âlentâ her for sexual abuse when she was a teenager. Andrew has denied her allegations.
A litigation release in the November 2009 deal says it applies to Epstein and âany other person or entity who could have been included as a potential defendantâ in the suit Giuffre filed against Epstein in federal court in Florida earlier that year.
âPotential Defendantâ
Boies said Andrew could not have been a âpotential defendantâ covered by the settlement, because he wasnât subject to jurisdiction in Florida and that case involved federal claims of which the British royal wasnât a part. Andrew was also unaware of the release at the time it was signed, Boies said.
The settlement was also raised in a suit by Giuffre against Harvard Law School Professor Alan Dershowitz, with whom she also claims she had underage sex. She sued him for defamation in 2019 after he repeatedly denied her claims and called her a liar. Dershowitz, who counter-sued Giuffre for defamation and infliction of emotional distress, also said the 2009 deal barred her claims.
The nine-page agreement includes a requirement that the amount of the settlement remain confidential. The parties also agreed that the deal âshould not in any way be construed as an admission by Jeffrey Epsteinâ that he violated any federal or state laws.
Epsteinâs former longtime girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell was found guilty last week of sex trafficking. While Giuffre didnât testify in that trial, prosecutors told jurors she was a victim of the coupleâs abuse, and she was mentioned by name by two witnesses.
Secret Settlements
Federal prosecutors put Epsteinâs net worth at more than $500 million and said he had an income of more than $10 million a year when he was arrested in 2019.
Epstein, who was found dead in his jail cell before he could go on trial for sex-trafficking, left an estate that included about $194 million in hedge fund and private equity investments, $113 million held in equities and $57 million in cash, according to a court filing.
Before he died, Epstein used high-pressure litigation tactics and secret settlements to keep details of his sexual behavior out of the public eye. Some settlements exceeded $1 million, with three women agreeing to drop their suits for a total of $5.5 million. After Epstein died, his estate set up a compensation fund that distributed about $125 million to 135 victims.
Maxwellâs lawyers aggressively questioned the women who testified against her about amounts they received in lawsuits and the fund. âJaneâ said on the stand that she received $5 million. Prosecutors pointed out that Maxwell received some $30 million from Epstein.
Andrewâs lawyers said in his motion to dismiss Giuffreâs suit that she was looking for âanother paydayâ by accusing âa member of the worldâs best known royal family of serious misconduct.â
The case is Giuffre v. Prince Andrew, 21-cv-06702, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
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