It is no longer simple accusations of sexual violence under the influence of Jeffrey Epstein that target Prince Andrew: an American filed a complaint, Monday, August 9, in New York against this member of the British royal family, announced the latter in company of his lawyer.
The complaint, consulted by Agence France-Presse (AFP), claims that the Duke of York, second son of the Queen of England, is “One of the mighty men” to whom Virginia Giuffre has been “Delivery for a sexual purpose” when she was the victim between 2000 and 2002, from the age of 16, of the vast sex trafficking for which the financier Jeffrey Epstein was indicted and imprisoned, before he killed himself in a prison in Manhattan, summer 2019.
Prince Andrew, who had previously dismissed the charges, is accused in the complaint of having “Sexually assaulted” three times Mme Giuffre, then a minor: in London with a very close friend of Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, and in the properties of the businessman in New York and in the Virgin Islands.
“I hold Prince Andrew responsible for what he did to me. The powerful and the rich are not exempt from accountability. I hope that other victims will see that it is possible not to live in silence and fear ”said Mme Giuffre in a statement released to the media.
Withdrawn from public life
The lawsuit was filed in Manhattan federal court, under a New York State Child Victims Act, which gives a one-year time limit to sue for sexual assault, with no statute of limitations. This law, which entered into force in August 2019, still leaves a few days for potential victims to act.
Now 61, Prince Andrew had “Categorically” denied such accusations in an interview deemed calamitous with the BBC, in November 2019. He had notably expressed doubts about the authenticity of a high-profile photo showing him with Mr.me Giuffre and, in the background, Mme Maxwell, who remains in the Epstein case.
Despite his denials, his association with the American businessman had forced him to retire from public life.
