The prince’s lawyers are expected to argue that Virginia Roberts Giuffre’s suit should be dismissed because of the earlier settlement’s terms.
A woman who is among Jeffrey Epstein’s most vocal accusers received $500,000 in 2009 to resolve a lawsuit in which she accused him of repeatedly sexually abusing her when she was a teenager, according to a settlement agreement unsealed on Monday. The agreement was made public as part of a lawsuit filed by the woman, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, against Prince Andrew, who was friendly with Mr. Epstein and who Ms. Giuffre has said raped her when she was 17. Prince Andrew, the second son of Queen Elizabeth II, has denied Ms. Giuffre’s allegations, and his lawyers are expected to argue at a hearing on Tuesday that her suit, which was filed in federal court in Manhattan, should be dismissed. Andrew B. Brettler, a lawyer for Prince Andrew, declined to comment on the terms of the 2009 settlement or its potential ramifications for Ms. Giuffre’s lawsuit against his client. Ms. Giuffre says in the suit that she was trafficked and abused by Mr. Epstein and others in his circle, including Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, starting when she was 16. The prince,61, was a friend of Ghislaine Maxwell, a British socialite and longtime companion of Mr. Epstein’s who was convicted last week of conspiring with him to recruit, groom and sexually abuse underage girls. Ms. Giuffre’s suit against Prince Andrew, which seeks unspecified damages, accuses him of abusing her “at Epstein and Maxwell’s invitation” in New York.
