For the Duke’s lawyers, the agreement, which has remained secret until now, prohibits Virginia Giuffre from prosecuting alleged sexual abuse
Jeffrey Epstein wrote Virginia Giufre a $ 500,000 check in 2009 to put an end to her sexual abuse allegations. After years in the shadows, the text of the plea agreement was published as part of the legal action initiated by the woman in the United States against Prince Andrew. And it is precisely the lawyers of the Duke of York who consider it an essential document for definitively archiving the civil case. In their opinion, the agreement prohibits Giuffre, the main accuser, from proceeding: by signing it she accepted – and this is the thesis – to put an end to the legal actions against all those linked to the millionaire who committed suicide in prison. Andrea is not explicitly named in the agreement but the nine-page document refers to all “potential defendants”, a formula that according to the lawyers of Queen Elizabeth’s son includes him and therefore shields him from any further judicial implications.
The plea agreement was signed on 25 November 2009 by Epstein in Palm Beach and on 17 November by Giuffre in Australia. And he points out that “it should in no way have been interpreted as an admission by Epstein” of violation of federal or state laws. Giuffre’s lawyers reject the Duke of York’s defenders’ interpretation and explain how the plea deal has nothing to do with the case involving Andrea, accused of sexually abusing the woman in New York, London and the US Virgin Islands.
Giuffre was brought to the British capital by Epstein who then presented her to Prince Andrew, to whom the then 17-year-old woman would then be “lent” for sexual favors. Of those encounters with the duke, Giuffre repeatedly recalled a detail, the fact that he was sweating profusely. Despite some photos immortalizing them together, the queen’s third son has always flatly denied the meetings with Giuffre, even explaining, in the course of a controversial and criticized interview, that he has an alibi. Not only because on the offending evenings he was busy with one of his daughters. But mostly because he hasn’t been able to sweat for a long time, due to an adrenaline overdose from an injury during the Falklands War.
The plea deal was disclosed ahead of the expected hearing on Tuesday 4 January, when Judge Lewis Kaplan could decide the future of the lawsuit, or whether to proceed or not. Even in the case of a halt to the lawsuit for Prince Andrew, the climate at home is heavy. According to the British press, in fact, he risks being permanently excluded from any public role of the royal family, after having already been suspended in recent months following the outbreak of the scandal. As if that weren’t enough, the veteran of the elite corps of the Grenadier Guards, of which Andrea is commander of honor after inheriting the title of ‘regimental colonel’ in 2017 from his father, the late Prince Philip, publicly asked from the columns of the Times his formal and immediate resignation.
His image – wrote Julian Perreira, retired sergeant of the body and veteran of Afghanistan – now represents “a stain for the Grenadier Guards” given the sentence already imposed on Ghislaine Maxwell, the former socialite found guilty by a jury of having conspired with Epstein to lure and outwit underage girls for sexual purposes. A guilt that risks making Maxwell serve 65 years in prison and that has increased the concerns of Andrea’s lawyers, who had tried in vain to definitively end Giuffre’s case by claiming a jurisdiction problem. Pending the judge’s decision, Prince Andrew and Buckingham Palace are in suspense and hope to be able to move on
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