Wednesday 16 February 2022

Prince Andrew settles US civil sex assault case with Virginia Giuffre -


Prince Andrew’s ‘arrogance’ prevented earlier settlement, lawyers say

 

Attorneys for victims of Jeffrey Epstein hail victory for sexual abuse survivors but say case should have been settled sooner

 


Richard Luscombe in Miami and Dani Anguiano in Los Angeles

Tue 15 Feb 2022 20.41 GMT

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/feb/15/prince-andrew-lawyers-settlement-arrogance-jeffrey-epstein

 

US attorneys representing victims of Jeffrey Epstein have hailed Tuesday’s settlement between Prince Andrew and Virginia Giuffre as a “victory” for survivors, with one claiming the royal’s “arrogance” stood in the way of settling sooner.

 

Giuffre filed a civil lawsuit against the Duke of York in New York last year, accusing the prince of sexually abusing her when she was 17. The move represents a remarkable turnaround for the duke, who has always denied having a sexual relationship with Giuffre and had vowed to clear his name in court.

 

In the settlement, the prince said he regretted his association with Epstein, who killed himself in prison in 2019 while facing trial for sex crimes.

 

“It’s another banner day for the survivors,” Robert Lewis, a New York-based lawyer for Sarah Ransome, who was abused at the age of 22 and settled a lawsuit with Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell in 2018, told the Guardian.

 

He said he felt the victims had “been heard, and were no longer silenced” after Maxwell, the disgraced British socialite, was convicted in December on charges of recruiting and grooming teenage girls for sexual encounters with Epstein between 1994 and 2004, but he said Tuesday’s developments would further empower them.

 

“They understand the pain and suffering that other survivors have gone through and they’re happy to see other survivors get some vindication, whether it’s the money paid or even more importantly just an acknowledgement that their claims are legitimate, that they’ve been wronged and that the truth is out.”

 

Lisa Bloom, attorney for several of Epstein’s victims, said in a tweet that Giuffre had achieved “what no one else could: getting Prince Andrew to stop his nonsense and side with sexual abuse victims”.

 

“My clients and I see this as a monumental victory for Virginia and are just in awe of her courage,” Bloom told the Guardian. “She stood up … she did it not only for herself but for other victims. It’s really an inspiration.”

 

Bloom said cases such as these where “everyday people can stand up and get justice” provided hope to other victims. “Every time there’s a victory for somebody like this it goes a long way toward inspiring victims to stand up and stick with the fight,” she added.

 

Settlement money, which Bloom said surely amounted to millions of dollars, would go toward Guiffre’s charity and support victims who haven’t received news coverage and don’t have a celebrity name attached to their cases, she said.

 

However, Lewis said he was surprised the prince had not settled the case sooner. Asked if there had been “any element of arrogance” in the prince’s delay in settling, Lewis said: “That’s absolutely the case.”

 

“It’s true for Epstein, it’s true for Maxwell, it’s true for the Catholic church, it’s true for the prince … they think the law on some level applies only to everybody else.

 

“The settlement does not surprise me. What does surprise me is that he and his advisers and lawyers didn’t see this earlier and come to terms with it much earlier.”

 

The court document that revealed news of the settlement on Tuesday said: “Prince Andrew has never intended to malign Ms Giuffre’s character, and he accepts that she has suffered both as an established victim of abuse and as a result of unfair public attacks.”

 

However, Lewis said he believes the royal’s previous conduct, from his claim of not remembering meeting Giuffre to denouncing her allegations as “baseless” has been questionable.

 

“What I observed, and what the world observed, was that for the last however many years he’s been dodging the whole matter. He sat for that terrible [Newsnight] interview in 2019, that didn’t come off well at all. Then they fought jurisdiction in New York and lost, and moved to dismiss, and lost.

 

“So he was a couple of weeks from being deposed and having to answer questions under oath to lawyers, who had a lot more information about the situation than journalists did.

 

“Given that, and the further diminution in his public standing, which is obviously important to him, it was a good time for him to settle.”

 

Bloom said the settlement means the royal would not “malign [Giuffre] any more”.

 

“Folks need to understand how extraordinarily difficult and painful it is to litigate a sexual abuse case, and Virginia has shown more courage in one day than most of us show in an entire lifetime, by not only going after Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, but now Prince Andrew, and standing up to him,” Bloom saidin an interview with Talk Radio.

 

“Part of this settlement is acknowledging her pain and what she has gone through, and that he did not intend to malign her character. He’s not going to malign her any more.

 

“He states publicly that he regrets his association with Jeffrey Epstein, which frankly, he should have said a long time ago. These are good accomplishments. It would have been nice for all of us to see this trial … but at the end of the day Virginia gets to decide what’s best for her. She does not have to carry the weight of the world’s interest.”

 

Prince Andrew’s settlement raises many questions but answers none

 


Analysis: the Queen’s support has been clear but the court of public opinion is unlikely to exonerate the Duke of York

 

Caroline Davies

Tue 15 Feb 2022 19.41 GMT

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/feb/15/prince-andrew-settlement-virginia-giuffre-raises-many-questions-but-answers-none

 

News of the Duke of York’s settlement was met with silence by Buckingham Palace. There was no official comment from the Queen, who just last month sought to distance the monarchy as an institution from the fallout over her second son’s legal woes.

 

But it is understood that the very decisive action taken by the Queen last month, when she stripped Prince Andrew of his royal patronages, honorary military titles and any official use of his HRH title, still stands firm.

 

Indeed, it would be hard to imagine a return to royal duties and public engagements given that the out-of-court settlement announced on Tuesday raises many questions, but answers none.

 

Andrew does not, in the statement, dispute the very serious allegation of sexual assault put by Virginia Giuffre in her civil case. Nor does he admit it.

 

His lawyer had previously in court dismissed the case as “baseless” and accused Giuffre, who settled her claim against Jeffrey Epstein for $500,000 in 2009, of seeking another “payday”. The announcement of the settlement is unlikely to exonerate Andrew in the court of public opinion.

 

So, his patronages are very unlikely to be returned to him – indeed, they are already being shared out among other members of the royal family. He will remain sidelined in any official royal capacity.

 

Yet he is the Queen’s son. In the three years since Giuffre dropped her legal bombshell, the Queen has made clear her support through her actions. Andrew has been invited to Balmoral. The Queen allowed him to play a prominent part in the public tributes to the Duke of Edinburgh after his death last April. She and Andrew have been riding together.

 

And it is possible we will see him during her platinum jubilee celebrations in June, as a member of her family.

 

Andrew now faces paying a hefty bill in legal costs and an undisclosed sum that could run into millions. One unconfirmed report put it at £7.5m, while lawyers said it could exceed £10m.

 

It is not known if the Queen, who supported Andrew’s royal work from the private income she receives from the Duchy of Lancaster estate, will be contributing to his costs and settlement. Andrew recently sold a Swiss ski chalet that he bought in 2014 with his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson for a reported £18m.

 

Royal and legal experts hailed the settlement as good news for the institution, if not for Andrew. David McClure, an author on royal finances, tweeted: “This was always the only outcome for the royal family in terms of damage limitation.”

 

Nick Goldstone, a lawyer with the disputes resolution firm Ince, said of the out-of-court settlement: “A good day for the royal family. A huge relief for that institution. Probably a good day for Ms Giuffre and a recognition of the impossible position Prince Andrew was in and the cessation of hostilities.”

 

He said: “A ‘settlement in principle’ needs to be ratified by court order and until we see that, I would not hold your breath. Clearly this is a settlement on very generous financial terms for the complainant and a degree of back pedalling by the defendant.

 

“In terms of ‘the court of public opinion’, this looks likes an admission of bad conduct on the part of Andrew and I suspect he will remain ‘off-stage’ from the royal family for the rest of his life. Perhaps he intends to rehabilitate himself by supporting the fight against the evils of sex trafficking and supporting its victims over the years. What appears to have truly motivated him has been his loss of honorary title and royal associations.”

 

The settlement was announced weeks before Andrew was scheduled to give a deposition in the case under oath to Giuffre’s lawyers.

 

The statement marks a change of tone from Andrew compared with his infamous Newsnight interview with Emily Maitlis in 2019, during which he failed to express sympathy for Epstein’s victims.

 

The court document states that Andrew “regrets his association with Epstein, and commends the bravery of Giuffre and other survivors in standing up for themselves and others”.

 

The royal author Penny Junor said: “At last he’s expressing some regret and some empathy for those girls.” The Newsnight interview had been “all about him” she said. “He’s got it right now, it took him a long time to get there but I think he’s got it right.”

 

Asked if there was a way back to public royal life for the prince, she replied: “I think it’s very, very unlikely.”

 

Andrew would be “for ever tainted”, said Joe Little, the editor of Majesty magazine. “I just don’t think he’s ever likely to resume work as a working member of the royal family. I think that too much water has gone under the bridge for that and the institution of monarchy has been tainted by his association with Epstein and I just think that there’s no going back on all that.”

 

Of the likely reaction of the rest of the royal family, he said: “I’m sure that they’re glad this [settlement agreement] has happened, but does it exonerate the prince who really has not been charged with anything criminal? He will, I think, for ever be tainted by this scandal, for want of a better way of describing it.”


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