Prince Andrew Loses Legal Battle in Sexual Assault Lawsuit

A federal judge denied Prince Andrew‘s motion to dismiss the sexual assault lawsuit filed against him by Virginia Roberts Giuffre. She claims she was sexually trafficked by the late Jeffrey Epstein and forced to have sex with the prince when she was underage. Giuffre said Andrew, 61, sexually abused her at Epstein’s private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands, at Epstein’s Manhattan mansion, and at Ghislaine Maxwell’s home in London.

“Ms. Giuffre’s complaint is neither ‘unintelligible’ nor ‘vague’ nor ‘ambiguous,’” Judge Lewis Kaplan wrote in his ruling Wednesday, reports CNN. “It alleges discrete incidents of sexual abuse in particular circumstances at three identifiable locations. It identifies to whom it attributes that sexual abuse.”

Andrew has denied the allegations in the lawsuit, and his attorneys have not commented on Kaplan’s ruling. Buckingham Palace did not comment on the “ongoing legal matter.” Giuffre’s attorney Sigrid McCawley called the ruling “another important step in Virginia’s heroic and determined pursuit of justice as a survivor of sex trafficking.” Andrew has to answer questions related to the case under oath by July 14, as Kaplan said in a previous ruling. If no settlement is reached, the trial could begin between September and December.

The attorneys for Queen Elizabeth II’s third child filed a motion last week to dismiss Giuffre’s civil lawsuit after it was discovered that Epstein agreed to a $500,000 settlement with Giuffre in 2009, reports PEOPLE. The deal did not name Andrew, but Giuffre agreed to “release, acquit, satisfy and forever discharge” Epstein and “any other person or entity who could have been included as a potential defendant,” according to the document. Andrew’s attorneys argued that this barred Guiffre from suing him. Her attorneys argued the document was irrelevant to her claims against Andrew.

In the lawsuit, Giuffre claims she was forced to have sex with Andrew three times between 1999 and 2002. When she filed her lawsuit in August 2021, Giuffre told PEOPLE she hoped to hold Andrew accountable “for what he did to me.” She continued, “The powerful and rich are not exempt from being held responsible for their actions. I hope that other victims will see that it is possible not to live in silence and fear, but to reclaim one’s life by speaking out and demanding justice.”

Epstein was a convicted sex offender after he pleaded guilty to state prostitution charges in 2008. In July 2019, he was indicted on federal sex trafficking charges, but he died by suicide in custody before his trial could begin. In December, Maxwell was convicted on five federal charges, including sex trafficking a minor, and conspiracy. She faces up to 65 years in prison, but her sentencing hearing hasn’t been scheduled yet.

Two months after Epstein died in 2019, Andrew did an interview with the BBC in an attempt to clear up questions about his relationship with the disgraced financier. He was shown a picture of himself with Giuffre, which he claimed to not remember taking. After the public backlash caused by the interview, Andrew withdrew from royal duties.