Prince Andrew
FILE
Agency Report
The legal team for Britain’s Prince Andrew, on Thursday, refused to make any comment after they failed to persuade a U.S. judge to dismiss Virginia Giuffre’s lawsuit.
Prince Andrew was accused of sexually abusing Giuffre when she was a teenager.
In a decision made public on Wednesday, U.S. District Judge, Lewis Kaplan said Giuffre, 38, could pursue claims that Andrew battered her and intentionally caused her emotional distress while the late financier, Jeffrey Epstein, trafficked her.
“The legal team have advised me that there will be no comment,’’ a spokeswoman said.
The 61-year-old prince, the second son of 95-year-old Queen Elizabeth, has denied Giuffre’s accusations that he had forced her to sleep with him more than two decades ago at a London home of former Epstein associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, and abused her at two Epstein properties.
The judge’s decision means Andrew could be forced to give evidence at a trial, which could begin between September and December 2022, if no settlement was reached.
The prince was forced to step down from public duties in 2019 because of his connections to Epstein.
Buckingham Palace said on Wednesday it would not comment on an ongoing legal matter.
Reuters/NAN
