A federal judge in New York refused to dismiss a sexual assault lawsuit against Prince Andrew, who is being sued by a woman who claims she was forced to have sex with him while she was a minor.
The duke's attempts to stop the case were denied by Judge Lewis Kaplan.
Andrew has denied the accusations of Virginia Giuffre, who is now 38, and a vocal critic of the justice system. The civil lawsuit was thrown out for months by the Duke of York's lawyers.
Giuffre says Andrew sexually abused her on multiple occasions between 2000 and 2002 while she was a sex trafficking victim under the age of 18. Giuffre says she was forced to have sex with the duke in London, New York and the US Virgin Islands.
Andrew was a friend and associate of Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted of conspiracy to commit sex offenses. In August of last year, the man who was awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking and abusing dozens of young girls died in a federal jail. A federal jury found her guilty of sex trafficking for her role in the operation. She could be sentenced to 65 years in prison.
Giuffre first accused Andrew of sexual assault in a sworn statement in December of 2014. She sued Andrew for battery and emotional damages in August of 2021.
The duke and his legal team have been fighting to get Giuffre's case thrown out. Andrew was able to avoid being served for nearly a month because his legal team initially claimed that he had not been properly presented with the official documents. In a ruling dated Sept. 17, Kaplan rejected this argument.
Kaplan rejected a defense motion that attempted to delay proceedings because Giuffre was not a US citizen. The judge ordered the unsealing of the secret settlement between Andrew and Giuffre, which Andrew's legal team claimed included a clause preventing her from suing the royal.
The duke's lawyer questioned the constitutionality of the Child Victims Act and cited the settlement of a sex trafficking case against the billionaire in his arguments to dismiss charges. Giuffre's allegations against Andrew were not explicit enough, which led to a tense moment in the virtual courtroom.
He said that Ms. Giuffre didn't articulate what happened to her at the hands of Prince Andrew. We don't know the details of the allegations, and it's time that Prince Andrew be required to answer them.
Kaplan said that Giuffre's claim that she had been forced to engage in sexual intercourse was specific enough for the current stage of the proceedings.
This was emphasized in the judge's ruling. He wrote that Ms. Giuffre's complaint was not "unintelligible" or "vague" or "ambiguous". There are allegations of sexual abuse at three locations. The person it attributes sexual abuse to is identified.
Kaplan said that the Child Victim's Act had been upheld in the face of other legal challenges. He called the argument "creative" but without merit.
Giuffre cannot pursue legal action against the financier or anyone else who could have been included in that matter under the provision in the settlement. The document does not name Andrew, but he should be included in the potential defendants category.
David Boies said that the 2009 settlement only concerned sex traffickers.
There is no suggestion that Prince Andrew was the person transporting. Boies said there was no allegation that Prince Andrew was involved in the trade. He was a person who was involved in the trade of girls.
The settlement does not preclude Andrew from facing Giuffre's accusations in a court of law, according to Kaplan.
He wrote that the agreement cannot be said to show that the instrument was intended to benefit Prince Andrew. The court can't rewrite the agreement to give the rights where it doesn't clearly show intent to create them.
Giuffre's legal team will respond to discovery requests from Andrew's attorneys on January 14.
Andrew is ninth in line to the throne. He stepped back from royal life after he denied dancing with or meeting Giuffre in a disastrous interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation. He denied Giuffre's allegation that he sweated on her while dancing at a London club by saying that he cannot perspire because of his military experience.
Giuffre told the BBC that he was at a Pizza Express with his daughter on the day of one of the alleged assaults.
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