The 11-page dossier responds paragraph by paragraph to the allegations in Giuffre’s lawsuit, alternating between flat denials and claims that the prince “misses enough information to admit or deny the allegations”.
Still, in the lawsuit, Andrew admitted that he met Epstein through Maxwell in 1999; that in 2000 Epstein and Maxwell attended the Prince’s 40th birthday; and that Andrew was photographed with Epstein in Central Park in 2010 and was staying at Epstein’s mansion in New York City.
Giuffre alleged in her lawsuit that the late financier Jeffrey Epstein traded her and forced her to have sex with his friends, including Andrew, and that Andrew knew she was a minor in the US at the time. She alleged that Andrew sexually assaulted her on Epstein’s private island in the US Virgin Islands, at his Manhattan mansion and at his former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell’s London home.
Giuffre’s attorney David Boies said in a statement that he was looking forward to a trial.
“Prince Andrew’s response continues with his approach of denying knowledge or information about the claims against him, and claiming to blame the abuse victim for somehow harming himself,” he said. “We look forward to confronting Prince Andrew with his denials and attempts to blame Ms Giuffre for her own abuse during his statement and at trial.”
The filing comes two weeks after a federal judge in New York rejected the prince’s request to dismiss the lawsuit.
The ruling sparked a dramatic series of legal proceedings for Queen Elizabeth II’s third child, which could have major implications for Buckingham Palace.
The long-running allegations against Andrew, 61, have already dramatically affected his public status and he stepped down from royal duties in late 2019. In the wake of the judge’s decision earlier this month, Andrew was stripped of his military titles and charities, Buckingham Palace announced.
Andrew has until July 14 to answer questions about the case under oath, following a ruling by Judge Lewis Kaplan last year. If the case is not resolved, Andrew could face trial between September and December 2022.
Giuffre brought her case under the Child Victims Act, a New York state law passed in 2019 that temporarily extended the statute of limitations in child sexual abuse cases.
The civil suit stems from the elaborate and disturbing charges against Epstein, the wealthy sex offender who, despite a sketchy history, befriended a series of powerful men.
Epstein pleaded guilty to state prostitution charges in 2008 and was charged in July 2019 on federal sex trafficking charges. Prosecutors accused him of carrying out a decades-long plan to sexually abuse underage girls by flying them on private jets to his properties in Florida, New York, New Mexico and the US Virgin Islands. He died by suicide in prison before he could be tried.
Maxwell, his former girlfriend and close associate, was arrested in 2020 and charged with facilitating the abuse scheme. A federal jury convicted her in December on five federal counts, including smuggling a minor and conspiracy.
Giuffre was not one of four women to testify at Maxwell’s trial that they had been abused. Still, she was named at the trial when Carolyn, one of the victims, testified that Giuffre recruited her to come to Epstein’s home in Palm Beach, Florida.
DailyExpertNews’s Lauren del Valle and Rob Picheta contributed to this report.
