Prince Andrew pays Virginia Giuffre £7million after settling with rape accuser outside court
PRINCE Andrew has paid his £7million settlement with sex accuser Virginia Roberts after she agreed to drop the case. New court documents released today show the lawsuit has now been officially dismissed by the judge – which means the Duke of York has handed over the cash. The final dismissal brings to an end a […]
PRINCE Andrew has paid his £7million settlement with sex accuser Virginia Roberts after she agreed to drop the case.
New court documents released today show the lawsuit has now been officially dismissed by the judge – which means the Duke of York has handed over the cash.
The final dismissal brings to an end a shameful episode for the Royal Family – but leaves many questions unanswered over the sex case.
Andrew had been given ten days to the hand over the money so that Virginia would officially drop the case after reaching a settlement agreement last month.
New documents released today confirmed the stipulation that the case would be dismissed once the settlement had been paid.
And it was signed off by Judge Lewis A. Kaplan.
He wrote: “Based on the foregoing stipulation of the parties, and good cause appearing, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that this action is dismissed with prejudice.”
It is understood Andrew’s brother Charles, 73, is stumping up most of the agreed £7million with the Queen also chipping in — but no public cash is being used.
He will pay back Charles and Her Majesty, 95, when he gets the cash from the £17million sale of his ski chalet in Verbier, Switzerland, which could take two months.
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If he fails to repay, Andrew will lose money from the will of the Queen, who is believed to have funded his legal battle.
Speaking on the decision to loan Andrew the money, a source said: “There were family discussions about how to ‘take a little from here and a little from there’.
“Once it (money from the chalet) hits his bank account, he can pay back his brother and whoever else has lent him money.
“But that payment (to Virginia) has to be paid on time. He can’t rely on selling the chalet. Too many things can go wrong and the court won’t wait for property queries.”
A friend of Andrew added: “He has no income or money to repay a bank loan so the family is the only way to guarantee the payment.”
BOWING TO CHARLES
The Sun understands that it was Prince Charles who told Andrew to settle after lawyers said the Duke would give a witness statement to rape accuser Ms Giuffre’s civil case in New York.
The royals feared a disastrous repeat of his heavily criticised Newsnight interview in 2019.
During the car crash TV chat, Andrew told of his dealings with convicted paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein – who was found dead in jail in 2019 while held on sex trafficking charges.
Andrew rubbed shoulders with Epstein and his “pimp” Ghislaine Maxwell – and the trio are believed to have been pals.
But hiding in plain sight as they schmoozed with the rich and powerful, the paedo couple were actually abusing teenage girls in what has been described as a “sexual pyramid scheme”.
The defiant Duke said he had “no recollection of ever meeting” Epstein sex slave Virginia – who was accused of having sex with her three times in 2001 starting when she was 17.
He gave excuses such as he “couldn’t sweat” and that he was at “Pizza Express in Woking” on the night he was alleged to have raped Virginia at his pal Maxwell’s house in London.
Andrew thought the interview had been a roaring success and that it had nipped in the bud the allegations of sex abuse.
But instead it was widely derided and only shown further spotlight on the allegations.
Prince Andrew, who lives with ex-wife Sarah Ferguson at 31-room room Royal Lodge at Windsor, will pay Ms Roberts Giuffre, 38, around £7million.
It includes a sum to her charity for sex trafficking victims.
In an extraordinary statement after agreeing to settle the case, Andrew told of his “regret” over his ties to paedophile multimillionaire Epstein and hailed Virginia’s “bravery”.
He pledged in his settlement statement to help support victims and even suggested he would become an ambassador to “fight against the evils” of the vile crime.
Andrew had faced civil litigation for the first time over the allegations in the 15-page lawsuit which was first filed in 2021.
His accusers legal team argued she was a “frightened, vulnerable child with no one there to protect her” when she was allegedly abused by Andrew, saying “no person, whether President or Prince, is above the law”.
She claimed she feared for her life when she was allegedly forced to have sex with Andrew, who is accused of having been aware of her age and status as a “sex-trafficking victim”.
Court documents claimed Ms Giuffre was “lent out for sexual purposes” by convicted sex offender Epstein including while she was still a minor under US law.
Andrew has consistently denied all the allegations.
And meanwhile, the Duke is facing pressure to finally work with the FBI as they are believed to be continuing to probe Epstein’s sex trafficking scheme.
The Sun Online approached Prince Andrew’s team for comment on the official dismissal of the case.