Recent court documents have disclosed that Virginia Giuffre, who accused Prince Andrew of sexual misconduct, was paid $15,000 by Jeffrey Epstein for an alleged sexual encounter with the royal when she was 17. These revelations are part of the latest documents related to Giuffre’s civil defamation claim against Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s ex-girlfriend and associate. The claim, filed in 2015, was settled two years later.
In a 2015 deposition, Giuffre was questioned about the incident with the Duke of York in 2001. When asked if she was paid by Epstein for having sex with Prince Andrew, she confirmed receiving $15,000 but was unsure of the equivalent amount in pounds. Prince Andrew has consistently denied any wrongdoing and refuted meeting Giuffre, who was trafficked by Epstein. Giuffre also admitted she did not pay taxes on the money received.
The court documents raise questions about which of the three occasions – in London, New York, or Epstein’s private Caribbean island – Giuffre was referring to in her claims of having had sex with the royal. Prince Andrew settled a separate civil case with Giuffre for millions of pounds, where she accused him of sexual assault on three occasions.
Additionally, Giuffre’s deposition included descriptions of being trafficked by Epstein and Maxwell to a “prince” in the south of France, whose identity she was unsure of. Epstein was also deposed in Giuffre’s civil case against Maxwell. During the deposition, he was asked about directing Giuffre to have sex with Prince Andrew and the potential impact on the Duke’s reputation. Epstein declined to answer these questions and others, including those about an alleged blackmail plot involving Prince Andrew.
The unsealing of these documents is part of a broader revelation process, with over 215 documents made public following a US judge’s order. The information includes allegations of sex tapes involving high-profile individuals like Bill Clinton and Sir Richard Branson, taken by Epstein.
Epstein, who was found dead in his jail cell in August 2019, faced sex-trafficking charges at the time of his death, which was ruled a suicide. In June 2022, Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison for her role in aiding Epstein’s sexual abuse of teenage girls.
