Prince Andrew with victim and Epstein trafficker in 2001
... Is avoiding process servers
The royal has been ignoring legal summonses from the United States for six years. Now, he will have to face the judicial system in the United States.
A woman from Australia has filed suit in the United States in August, alleging the Prince Andrew had sex with her when she was underage, along with the deceased sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, an alleged collaborator of Andrew’s.
The lawsuit is possible because of a new law passed that allows such actions after the criminal statute of limitations has passed.
Background
The gist of the lawsuit is this,
An alleged victim of deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein filed a lawsuit against Prince Andrew of Britain on Monday, accusing the embattled 61-year-old royal of sexually abusing her at Epstein’s Manhattan mansion and elsewhere when she was under the age of 18, according to the complaint.
The lawsuit, filed by Virginia Roberts Giuffre in federal court in New York, comes almost two years to the day that Epstein died in a New York jail while he was awaiting trial on conspiracy and child sex trafficking charges. The legal action also comes just days before the expiration date of a New York state law that permits alleged victims of childhood sexual abuse to file civil claims that might otherwise be barred by statutes of limitations.
“If she doesn't do it now, she would be allowing him to escape any accountability for his actions,” Giuffre’s attorney, David Boies, chairman of Boies, Schiller Flexner, told ABC News. “And Virginia is committed to trying to avoid situations where rich and powerful people escape any accountability for their actions.”
James Hill, “Prince Andrew sued in federal court for alleged
sexual abuse,” ABC News, August 9, 2021
Text of lawsuit
Guiffre’s words are clear as to why she is seeking justice,
“Twenty years ago, Prince Andrew’s wealth, power, position, and connections enabled him to abuse a frightened, vulnerable child with no one there to protect her. It is long past the time for him to be held to account,” the lawsuit states.
"I am holding Prince Andrew accountable for what he did to me. The powerful and the 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 one can reclaim her life by speaking out and demanding justice," Giuffre said, via her lawyers, in a statement to ABC News.
"I did not come to this decision lightly. As a mother and a wife, my family comes first. I know that this action will subject me to further attacks by Prince Andrew and his surrogates. But I knew that if I did not pursue this action, I would be letting them and victims everywhere down," the statement said.
James Hill, ABC News, August 9, 2021
Andrew has denied the allegations, but he has refused to answer any questions from the victim’s attorneys,
Giuffre’s lawyers contend they have made multiple attempts to engage with Andrew or his advisers in discussions about her allegations in an effort to avoid litigation. But those efforts, Boies said, have been ignored.
“Since 2015, we've been trying to have a dialog with Prince Andrew or his lawyers,” Boies said. “We have given him every opportunity to provide any explanation or context that he might have. We've tried to reach a resolution without the necessity of litigation. Prince Andrew and his lawyers have been totally non-responsive.”
The most recent letter to the prince’s presumed legal team was sent last month and warned that a lawsuit would soon be filed unless the prince agreed to enter into discussions for an alternative resolution, according to the court filing Monday.
“If she had simply failed to sue now, it would have validated the stonewalling tactics that Andrew and his advisers have employed,” Boies said.
For nearly a decade, the prince has been under scrutiny for his association with Epstein, a multi-millionaire financier and the subject of state and federal investigations since the mid-2000s for allegedly recruiting underage girls for illicit massages and sex.
James Hill, ABC News, August 9, 2021
Ghislaine Maxwell, who is now awaiting trial on her own role in the sex trafficking of young women, directed Giuffre to have sex with Andrew on three occasions in 2001, the suit alleges. The photo above was taken at that time, but Andrew alleges that it is fake.
The suit also alleges that Andrew knew that she was underaged.
“It is at his peril”
Boies is a big-time attorney in the U.S., so Andrews is not dealing with some youngster out of law school.
In his statement to ABC, Boies issued a warning to the prince,
Boies told ABC News on Monday that it is his hope that the lawsuit finally leads to Prince Andrew agreeing to answer questions under oath.
“It's one thing to ignore me. It's another thing to ignore the judicial process of the state of New York and the United States,” Boies said. “If Prince Andrew does not take seriously the rule of law in this country, he is being very ill-advised. This is a serious lawsuit, and the court will take it seriously. We take it seriously. If he doesn't take it seriously, it is at his peril.”
James Hill, ABC News, August 9, 2021
Making things even worse if that Andrew has been avoiding the process servers and staying out of the public eye,
Britain's Prince Andrew and his lawyers have refused multiple attempts to serve the beleaguered royal with notice of a sexual assault lawsuit filed against him last month in New York, according to an attorney for his accuser, Virginia Giuffre, and documents obtained by ABC News.
"Process servers have shown up at his residence, and they have refused to take the summons and refused to let the process servers in to serve," said David Boies, chairman of New York City-based law firm Boies Schiller Flexner LLP, which represents Giuffre. "He has stopped coming out in public. He has been moving around."
James Hill, “Prince Andrew avoiding service of lawsuit, accuser’s
lawyer says,” ABC News, September 10, 2021
Now, the only question is whether or not the queen will support her son in his quest to avoid justice.
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