Britain’s Prince Andrew failed to persuade a U.S. judge to dismiss Virginia Giuffre’s lawsuit accusing the Duke of York of sexually abusing her when she was a teenager.
QUICK FACTS:
- U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan said in a decision made public on Wednesday, Giuffre could pursue claims that Andrew battered her and intentionally caused her emotional distress while the late financier Jeffrey Epstein was trafficking her, Reuters reports.
- The Manhattan judge said it was premature to assess Andrew’s efforts to “cast doubt” on those claims, though the 61-year-old prince could do so at a trial.
- Judge Kaplan also said it was also too soon to decide whether Giuffre’s 2009 civil settlement with Epstein “clearly and unambiguously” shielded Andrew from being litigated against by Giuffre.
WHAT GIUFFRE SAID:
Suing Prince Andrew last August, Giuffre said she was “holding [him] accountable for what he did to me”.
BACKGROUND:
- Prince Andrew is the second son of Queen Elizabeth.
- He has denied Giuffre’s accusations that he forced her to have sex more than two decades ago at a London home of former Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, and abused her at two Epstein properties, Reuters reports.
- In the 2009 settlement, Epstein paid Giuffre $500,000, but without admitting liability, ending her Florida lawsuit accusing him of sexually abusing her when she was underage.
