Jeffrey Epstein is seen in a New York State Sex Offender Registry photo taken on March 28, 2017. (New York State Sex Offender Registry / AP)
The Associated Press August 9, 2021 at 2:44pm
One of Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime accusers sued Prince Andrew on Monday, saying he sexually assaulted her when she was 17.
Lawyers for Virginia Giuffre filed the lawsuit in Manhattan federal court.
In a statement, Giuffre said the lawsuit was brought under the Child Victims Act to allege she was trafficked to him and sexually abused by him.
“I am holding Prince Andrew accountable for what he did to me,” she said.
“The powerful and rich are not exempt from being held responsible for their actions.”
“I hope that other victims will see that it is possible not to live in silence and fear, but to reclaim one’s life by speaking out and demanding justice,” the victim added.
“I did not come to this decision lightly.”
“As a mother and a wife, my family comes first — and I know that this action will subject me to further attacks by Prince Andrew and his surrogates,” she said.
“But I knew if I did not pursue this action, I would be letting them and victims everywhere down.”
Should Giuffre’s allegations against Prince Andrew be investigated?
In late 2019, Prince Andrew told “BBC Newsnight” that he never had sex with Giuffre, saying, “It didn’t happen.”
He said he has “no recollection” of ever meeting her and told an interviewer there are “a number of things that are wrong” about Giuffre’s account, which alleges the encounter occurred in 2001.
“I can absolutely categorically tell you it never happened,” Andrew said.
According to the lawsuit, the prince abused Giuffre on multiple occasions when she was under the age of 18.
It said that on one occasion, the prince sexually abused her in London at the home of Ghislaine Maxwell when Epstein, Maxwell and Prince Andrew forced her to have sexual intercourse with the prince against her will.
On another occasion, Prince Andrew sexually abused the plaintiff in Epstein’s New York mansion, the lawsuit said.
Maxwell has pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking charges in Manhattan federal court, where she faces trial in November.
Epstein took his own life in a federal jail in Manhattan in August 2019, a month after he was arrested on sex trafficking charges.
The Western Journal has reviewed this Associated Press story and may have altered it prior to publication to ensure that it meets our editorial standards.
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