A federal judge today denied Prince Andrew's latest effort to end Virginia Giuffre's lawsuit agaist him.
Guiffre, a victim of pedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking scheme, claims she was forced to have sex with the British royal, an associate of Epstein. Prince Andrew claimed, among other things, that Guiffre's settlement with Epstein and her residency in Australia foreclosed the possibility of suing him—arguments that U.S. courts have now dismissed.
District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan said the settlement, made public earlier this month, is too vague to specifically protect Andrew from a lawsuit. … Kaplan issued his ruling two weeks after Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's longtime partner, was found guilty of sex trafficking a minor and other crimes. Giuffre and numerous other accusers say the pair lured underage girls into their orbit with the promise of money and prestige, only to sexually exploit them. In her lawsuit, Giuffre says she "was lent out by Epstein to other powerful men for sexual purposes," including Andrew.
