Virginia Giuffre, a survivor of billionaire Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking ring, is suing Britain's Prince Andrew over his alleged role in her abuse. She was made to perform sex acts for Andrew at Epstein's New York mansion and elsewhere, Giuffre claims in her lawsuit, while she was still a minor. Her lawyer, David Boies, says she is suing now because the statute of limitations will soon expire for the 2000s-era events.
Giuffre accuses Prince Andrew in the lawsuit of knowing her age and of knowing that she was a sex-trafficking victim being forced to engage in sexual acts with him. Giuffre said she feared disobeying Epstein, Maxwell and Prince Andrew "due to their powerful connections, wealth, and authority," court documents state.Former US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Geoffrey Berman said in January 2020 that Prince Andrew had not cooperated with attempts to interview him about Epstein."To date Prince Andrew has provided zero cooperation," Berman said at the time.Federal prosecutors requested an interview in June 2020 with Prince Andrew as part of its investigation into the alleged sex trafficking ring once operated by Epstein, a source told CNN at the time.
The two are famously depicted together, along with alleged Epstein "madam" Ghislaine Maxwell —now awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges of her own—in a photograph submitted as evidence to Florida's Southern District Court. (Higher quality versions of the photo not released by the court are widely available online) In a disastrous interview with the BBC in November 2019, Prince Andrew claimed the photo could be doctored, and that he couldn't be the sweaty man described by Giuffre because he doesn't sweat anymore because he overdosed on adrenaline in the Falklands War, and besides he was at Pizza Express in Woking that evening.
