(Florida Southern District Court)" loading="" class="lazyload size-article_feature" data-sizes="auto" data-src="" src="https://www.mercurynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/hypatia-h_cff0dec9586df3cd3e78c0e3cd0ade29-h_62d2531b3a8313d6f43e7269f48dd359.jpg?w=354"/>
Prince Andrew, Virginia Giuffre and Ghislaine Maxwell.
(Florida Southern District Court docket)
Prince Andrew and Virginia Giuffre have reached an out-of-court settlement in her sexual abuse lawsuit in opposition to him, in line with a court docket doc filed by Giuffre’s attorneys Tuesday.
The events anticipate submitting a stipulation of dismissal of the case inside 30 days, in line with the letter addressed to federal Choose Lewis Kaplan.
The sum of the settlement won't be disclosed, the letter says.
“Prince Andrew intends to make a considerable donation to Ms. Giuffre’s charity in help of victims’ rights. Prince Andrew has by no means meant to malign Ms. Giuffre’s character, and he accepts that she has suffered each as a longtime sufferer of abuse and because of unfair public assaults,” the letter states.
The civil go well with stemmed from the sprawling and disturbing allegations in opposition to Jeffrey Epstein, the rich intercourse offender who befriended a collection of highly effective males regardless of a sketchy historical past.
“It's recognized that Jeffrey Epstein trafficked numerous younger women over a few years,” the letter continues. “Prince Andrew regrets his affiliation with Epstein, and commends the bravery of Ms. Giuffre and different survivors in standing up for themselves and others. He pledges to exhibit his remorse for his affiliation with Epstein by supporting the battle in opposition to the evils of intercourse trafficking, and by supporting its victims.”
Within the lawsuit, Giuffre alleged Epstein trafficked her and compelled her to have intercourse along with his pals, together with Prince Andrew, and that Andrew was conscious she was underage within the US on the time. She alleged Andrew sexually abused her at Epstein’s personal island within the US Virgin Islands, at his mansion in Manhattan and at his former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell’s residence in London.
The prince has repeatedly and flatly denied the abuse.
“Prince Andrew denies that he was a co-conspirator of Epstein or that Epstein trafficked women to him,” his attorneys Andrew B. Brettler and Melissa Y. Lerner wrote in a authorized submitting final month.
Final month, Choose Kaplan denied a movement to dismiss the lawsuit. Prince Andrew had been scheduled to present a press release below oath on March 10, a supply advised CNN final week.
The long-running allegations in opposition to Andrew, 61, have already dramatically tarnished his public standing, and he stepped again from royal duties in late 2019. Within the wake of the decide’s choice final month, Andrew was stripped of his navy titles and charities, Buckingham Palace introduced.
Giuffre introduced her case below the Youngster Victims Act, a New York state legislation enacted in 2019 that briefly expanded the statute of limitations in baby intercourse abuse circumstances.
Epstein pleaded responsible in 2008 to state prostitution expenses and in July 2019 was indicted on federal intercourse trafficking expenses. Prosecutors accused him of finishing up a decades-long scheme of sexual abuse of underage women, flying them on personal planes to his properties in Florida, New York, New Mexico and the US Virgin Islands. He died by suicide in jail earlier than he may face trial.
Maxwell, his former girlfriend and shut affiliate, was arrested in 2020 and accused of facilitating the abuse scheme. A federal jury convicted her in December on 5 federal counts, together with intercourse trafficking a minor and conspiracy.
The-CNN-Wire
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