Epstein Settlement With Virginia Giuffre Will Be Made Public, Spelling Trouble For Prince Andrew

On Dec 29, it was announced that a 2009 settlement agreement between Virginia Giuffre and Jeffrey Epstein will be made public, and will reportedly bear directly on Giuffre’s lawsuit against Prince Andrew accusing him of sexual abuse.

U.S. District Judges Lewis Kaplan and Loretta Preska facilitated the agreement’s release via a joint order, with the release date set to Jan 3, 2022, less than a week from today.

Giuffre’s suit against Andrew accuses the Prince of forcing her to have sex with him over two decades ago when she was underage and staying at Ghislaine Maxwell’s London home. The suit also claims Andrew abused Giuffre at two of Epstein’s homes.

Andrew has denied the claims, and his attorney Andrew Brettler has argued that Epstein’s 2009 settlement should have prevented the suit because it covered “royalty.”

Brettler was criticized by Giuffre’s attorney David Boies for that argument, saying that the settlement shouldn’t be used as a “get out of jail free card.”

Brettler has since called for the case to be halted or thrown out due to Giuffre’s longtime residency in Australia, claiming that deprives the Manhattan court of jurisdiction and questioning whether she still had a residency in the States.

Judge Kaplan will hear oral arguments on Jan 4, 2022, and will later decide whether or not to dismiss the lawsuit.

Giuffre also has an open defamation lawsuit against Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz, overseen by Judge Preska, which stems from his denial of her claim that he was among multiple men Epstein made her have sex with.