Britain’s Prince Andrew speaks throughout a TV interview in April 2021. Legal professionals for Prince Andrew and Virginia Giuffre, who accused him of sexually abusing her when she was 17, formally requested a choose Tuesday to dismiss her lawsuit.
Steve Parsons/Pool photograph/through AP/File
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Steve Parsons/Pool photograph/through AP/File
Britain’s Prince Andrew speaks throughout a TV interview in April 2021. Legal professionals for Prince Andrew and Virginia Giuffre, who accused him of sexually abusing her when she was 17, formally requested a choose Tuesday to dismiss her lawsuit.
Steve Parsons/Pool photograph/through AP/File
NEW YORK — A U.S. choose dismissed the intercourse abuse lawsuit towards Britain’s Prince Andrew on Tuesday, three weeks after legal professionals for the American girl who filed it reached a deal calling for the prince to make a considerable donation to his accuser’s charity and declare he by no means meant to malign her character.
U.S. District Decide Lewis A. Kaplan signed court docket papers dismissing the August lawsuit after legal professionals on each side requested him to take action earlier within the day. The choose had given them till March 17 to finish the deal or he would set a trial date. The lawsuit can’t be refiled.
The legal professionals revealed three weeks in the past that they’d tentatively agreed to a settlement during which the prince would donate to Virginia Giuffre’s charity and make the declaration about her character.
Andrew strenuously denied Giuffre’s allegations after she sued him, accusing the British royal of sexually abusing her whereas she traveled with financier Jeffrey Epstein in 2001 when she was 17.
Giuffre, 38, reached the settlement with Andrew after the choose rejected the prince’s bid to win early dismissal of the lawsuit earlier this yr.
In a letter to the choose final month from Giuffre lawyer David Boies, an announcement was included that stated, partially: “Prince Andrew intends to make a considerable donation to Ms. Giuffre’s charity in help of victims’ rights. Prince Andrew has by no means meant to malign Ms. Giuffre’s character, and he accepts that she has suffered each as a longtime sufferer of abuse and on account of unfair public assaults.”
In accordance with the assertion, Prince Andrew acknowledged that Epstein trafficked “numerous younger women” over a few years and stated the prince “regrets his affiliation with Epstein, and commends the bravery of Ms. Giuffre and different survivors in standing up for themselves and others.”
He additionally pledged to help the victims of intercourse trafficking as a part of demonstrating his remorse.
In an announcement Tuesday, Boies stated the settlement was “an essential step, however it shouldn’t be the final step in holding Jeffrey Epstein’s enablers and individuals to account.”
A lawyer for the prince declined remark.
The Related Press doesn’t usually determine individuals who say they’re victims of sexual assault until they select to come back ahead publicly, as Giuffre has executed.
The settlement stopped the lawsuit earlier than the beginning of proof gathering, together with depositions that may have pressured Andrew to reply questions posed by attorneys.
Andrew — who had already stepped again from royal duties — was just lately stripped of his honorary army titles and roles and management of varied charities, often known as royal patronages. He can also now not use the title “his royal highness” in official settings.
