Virginia Giuffre, an alleged victim of Jeffrey Epstein, has filed a lawsuit against Prince Andrew for alleged sexual assault when she was 17.
The lawsuit, filed in New York, alleges that Andrew sexually abused Giuffre when she was 17 years old, and forced her to engage in sexual acts against her will on three separate occasions.
“Today my attorney filed suit against Andrew for sexual abuse under the Child Victims Act,” Giuffre said in a statement to CNN. “As the suit lays out in detail, I was trafficked to him and sexually abused by him.”
Giuffre said she is filing the lawsuit to “[hold] 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.”
“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.”
Giuffre alleges that Prince Andrew sexually abused her on three separate occasions in 2001 and 2002, with one of the incidents occurring at Epstein’s mansion in New York City. The lawsuit claims Prince Andrew forced Giuffre “to engage in sex acts against her will” during that encounter. In another alleged incident in London, Giuffre claims she was forced to have sexual intercourse with Andrew against her will.
Because of Andrew’s alleged abuse, the lawsuit says, Giuffre has suffered “substantial damages, including extreme emotional distress, humiliation, fear, psychological trauma, loss of dignity and self-esteem, and invasion of her privacy.”
“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,” the lawsuit said. “It is long past the time for him to be held to account.”
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Last update on 2024-11-07 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API