Prince Andrew is being sued for having allegedly on three occasions sexually abused a woman who has claimed she was trafficked for sex by the late financier Jeffrey Epstein.
In a civil complaint filed in the US District Court in Manhattan, Virginia Giuffre accused Andrew of having abused her about two decades ago, when she was under 18 years old.
According to the complaint, Giuffre said Andrew forced her to have sexual intercourse against her will at the London home of Epstein's longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell.
Spokespeople for the prince could not immediately be reached for comment outside business hours.
Andrew told the BBC in November 2019 he had no recollection of meeting Giuffre, and could not have had sex with her at Maxwell's home because he had returned that night to his house after a children's party.
The complaint said Andrew also abused Giuffre at Epstein's mansion on Manhattan's Upper East Side, and on a private island that Epstein owned in the US Virgin Islands.
Giuffre has said Epstein kept her as a "sex slave" with help from Maxwell, telling BBC's Panorama that Epstein brought her to London to meet Andrew.
Her complaint, signed by her lawyer David Boies, accused Andrew of battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress. It seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
Giuffre sued Andrew under the Child Victims Act, a New York state law.
"I am holding Prince Andrew accountable for what he did to me," Giuffre said in a statement. "The powerful and rich are not exempt from being held responsible for their actions. I hope that other victims will see that it is possible not to live in silence and fear, but to reclaim one's life by speaking out and demanding justice."
Lawyers for Maxwell did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Maxwell is not a defendant in the lawsuit.
Epstein, 66, killed himself in a Manhattan jail on August 10, 2019, while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. A fund to compensate victims of Epstein's sexual abuses has completed the payout process, giving more than US$121 million to about 138 people, the fund's administrator said.
Maxwell has pleaded not guilty to engaging in sex trafficking and grooming underage girls for Epstein to abuse. Her trial in Manhattan could begin in November.
Reuters
