Secret Epstein settlement agreement to remain under wraps in Prince Andrew suit
A secret settlement between Jeffrey Epstein and longtime accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre will remain under wraps in Giuffre’s lawsuit against Prince Andrew, a judge ruled Wednesday.
The Duke of York’s lawyers sought to file the agreement under seal as they prepare to respond to Giuffre’s claims that Andrew sexually assaulted her on a number of occasions when she was 17 years old, according to a letter they wrote to Manhattan federal Judge Lewis Kaplan.
Andrew contends the 2009 agreement between Giuffre and Epstein clears him and others “from any and all liability” that stem from her accusations, his attorneys wrote.
In her suit against the embattled royal, Giuffre claims she was ordered by Epstein or his alleged cohort, Ghislaine Maxwell, to engage in sex acts with Andrew at least three times in London, New York and the Virgin Islands in 2001 when she was 17.
Giuffre claimed she “feared death or physical injury to herself” if she disobeyed the orders, according to the suit. Andrew has denied the allegations and is expected to file a request to toss the complaint later this week.
The 2009 agreement was inked between Giuffre and Epstein after she sued him in civil court, according to court documents.
The confidential agreement was also kept under seal by another judge who presided over Giuffre’s suit against celebrity lawyer Alan Dershowitz.
Epstein hanged himself in a Lower Manhattan jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges in New York.
Maxwell is awaiting trial on charges she procured girls for him to abuse and later lied about it under oath. Jury selection in her case begins next week.
She’s pleaded not guilty.
