A US court recently allowed Virginia Giuffre’s attorneys to send legal notice to Andrew’s attorney, not the prince himself.
Prince Andrew has been served on the sexual assault charges brought against him by Epstein prosecutor Virginia Giuffre.
According to CNN, Andrew received the legal documents after his US-based attorney accepted copies of the complaint sent through FedEx and email.
Other court documents viewed by CNN show that another copy of the lawsuit was delivered to the Royal Courts of Justice in London on Monday.
According to LegalReader.com, Prince Andrew is accused of sexually abusing Virginia Giuffre, who was also involved in a lawsuit against the late billionaire Jeffrey Epstein.
Andrew and Epstein reportedly had a close relationship with the prince who visited Epstein’s New York City mansion and the private island estate. Andrew is also said to have received Epstein and his long-time colleague Ghislaine Maxwell in London.
Maxwell is currently suspected of having placed underage women for Epstein.
Prince Andrew in 2013. Image via Wikimedia, obtained from Flickr / user: Chatham House. (CCA-BY-2.0).
In her lawsuit, Giuffre alleges that Epstein essentially “gave” her to Prince Andrew.
Giuffre says Andrew sexually abused her several times, spread across London, New York and the US Virgin Islands. Additionally, Giuffre suspects that Prince Andrew knew she was a minor at the time of their interactions.
However, Andrew has consistently denied the allegations, claiming he never met Giuffre – despite old photos showing him with his arm around Giuffre’s waist.
“It didn’t happen,” Giuffre told the British Broadcasting Company in 2019. “I can absolutely, categorically tell you that it never happened. I can’t remember ever meeting this lady, not at all. “
Andrew’s attorney also described Giuffre’s complaint as “baseless, not viable, [and] potentially illegal. “
In addition, Andrew’s legal team says a 2009 settlement between Giuffre and Epstein released Prince Andrew of “all liability”. However, the content of the agreement is sealed and not publicly available.
But until Monday, Andrew avoided the lawsuit, refused to speak publicly, and apparently disappeared into royal possessions for several weeks.
Prince Andrew’s unavailability caused U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan to agree to Giuffre’s attorneys’ motion to seek alternative means to serve the Royal. Last Thursday, Judge Kaplan approved the motion, saying that “the US attorney’s service on the defendant is reasonably calculated in order to bring the defendant’s attention to the served papers, regardless of whether his US attorney is ‘authorized’ to accept delivery on his behalf ”.
In an email to the Prince’s US-based attorney Andrew B. Brettler, Giuffre’s legal team said, “Pursuant to Judge Kaplan’s order dated 16 and complained about you in your capacity as an attorney on the above matter of the defendant Prince Andrew, the Duke of York. “
The same email also indicated that papers had been sent “on behalf of the court to the designated UK central authority”.
David Boles, a lawyer for Giuffre, said he and his client were “pleased that the service is now behind us and that we can proceed with a resolution to Ms. Giuffre’s claims.”
sources
Prince Andrew has accepted the lawsuit and plans to “come out fighting”
Prince Andrew has filed a sexual assault lawsuit after papers were sent to a U.S. attorney
Prince Andrew’s US attorney has served a sexual assault lawsuit, Virginia Giuffre’s lawyers claim
