Prince Andrew Accuser’s Deal With Epstein Shields Other Potential Defendants

NEW YORK, Jan 3 (Reuters) – A 2009 settlement agreement between late financier Jeffrey Epstein and Virginia Giuffre was made public on Monday as part of Giuffre’s civil lawsuit against Britain’s Prince Andrew, who has said the deal shields him from any liability.

The agreement between Epstein and Giuffre contains a liability release for “any other person or entity” who could have been a defendant against claims by Giuffre, the filing in federal court in Manhattan shows. The deal also provided for Giuffre to be paid $500,000.

Andrew’s lawyers on Monday declined comment on the filing.

Giuffre in 2021 sued Andrew, accusing him of forcing her to have sex more than two decades ago when she was under 18 at the London home of former Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell. She said he also abused her at two of Epstein’s homes.

Andrew, 61, has denied Giuffre’s assertions and has moved to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing Giuffre is seeking a “payday” from her accusations against Epstein and his associates. The prince has not been accused of criminal wrongdoing.

He argued the previously-confidential agreement between Giuffre and Epstein, whom she has accused of trafficking her for sex when she was a teenager, shields him from liability.

It will now be up to U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan to determine whether the clause in the 2009 pact blocks Giuffre from suing Andrew.

Attorneys for Giuffre did not immediately reply to requests for comment on Monday.

A hearing over Andrew’s motion to dismiss the civil lawsuit is scheduled for Tuesday.

Epstein killed himself in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019 at the age of 66 while awaiting trial on sex abuse charges.

Andrew gave up many royal duties in November 2019, saying that his association with Epstein had become a “disruption to my family’s work.”

Giuffre’s lawsuit is separate from the criminal trial against Maxwell that concluded last week. Maxwell, 60, was convicted of recruiting and grooming girls for Epstein to abuse between 1994 and 2004.

Giuffre’s claims did not form the basis of any of the charges Maxwell faced and she did not testify for either side during the three-week criminal trial. (Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Grant McCool)