Mitali Palnitkar
Published On: January 13, 2022 at 17:43 IST
On January 13, 2022, the legal team of Prince Andrew refused to make any statement after the Lawyers failed to convince the Court to dismiss the lawsuit filed by Virginia Giuffre. She had accused him of sexually abusing her when she was a teenager.
The US District Judge Lewis Kaplan stated that Giuffre’s claims that Andrew battered her and intentionally inflicted emotional distress on her could be pursued. Also, it could be made out that Jeffrey Epstein was trafficking her.
It can be concluded from the Judge’s decision that Andrew could be asked to provide evidence at a Trial which might be held between September and December 2022, in case no settlement was reached.
A Spokeswoman stated, “The legal team has advised me that there will be no comment.” Also, the Buckingham Palace stayed away from commenting on the ongoing legal matter.
Andrew, 61-year-old prince is the second son of Queen Elizabeth and Jeffrey Epstein is a late financier.
Giuffre had accused Andrew of forcing her to have sex two decades ago at the home of Ghislaine Maxwell, who is an associate of Epstein in London. She claimed that he had abused her twice at two properties of Epstein.
In 2019, Andrew was forced to step down from his public duties because of having connections with Epstein and due to a BBC interview which ridiculed his image.