Prince Andrew sued by Jeffrey Epstein's accuser Virginia Giuffre over sexual abuse

Prince Andrew was sued on Monday by Virginia Giuffre, one of Jeffrey Epstein’s most prominent accusers, alleging that he raped her when she was 17 and committed other forms of sexual abuse, according to court documents.

In a civil complaint filed in the US District Court in Manhattan, Virginia Giuffre accused Andrew of having abused her about two decades ago, when she was 17 years old.

Prince Andrew was sued for having allegedly on three occasions sexually abused a woman who has claimed she was trafficked for sex by the late financier Jeffrey Epstein.

The accuser said Andrew forced her to have sexual intercourse against her will at the London home of Epstein’s longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell.

Spokespersons for the prince could not immediately be reached for comment.

Andrew denied the allegations and  told the BBC in November 2019 he had no recollection of meeting Giuffre, and could not have had sex with her at Maxwell’s home because he had returned that night to his house after a children’s party.

The complaint said Andrew also abused Giuffre at Epstein’s mansion on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, and on a private island that Epstein owned in the US Virgin Islands.

Giuffre has accused Epstein - who killed himself in a Manhattan jail on Aug 10, 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges - kept her as a “sex slave” with help from Maxwell, alleging that the financer brought her to London to meet the prince.

The complaint alleged the Britain prince of battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress. It seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.

Giuffre, in her statement, said the lawsuit was brought under the Child Victims Act to allege she was trafficked to him and sexually abused by him.

“I am holding Prince Andrew accountable for what he did to me,” she said. “The powerful and rich are not exempt from being held responsible for their actions. I hope that other victims will see that it is possible not to live in silence and fear, but to reclaim one’s life by speaking out and demanding justice."