Prince Andrew, the second son of Queen Elizabeth II, settled a lawsuit on Tuesday with Virginia Giuffre, a woman accusing the prince of raping her when she was a minor and a victim of sex trafficking by Jeffrey Epstein.
The amount the prince will be paying Giuffre is confidential, according to a statement by both parties attached to the court filing. Andrew will also be making a “substantial donation” to Giuffre’s charity that supports victims’ rights, the statement said.
The settlement came a month after Judge Lewis Kaplan of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York denied Andrew’s motion to dismiss the case and six months after the case began. Andrew was expected to sit for a deposition in a few weeks, in which he would have been required to answer questions from Giuffre’s lawyers under oath. He has not admitted to any of the crimes he’s been accused of by Giuffre.
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“It is known that Jeffrey Epstein trafficked countless young girls over many years,” Andrew said in the court filing, adding that he “regrets his association with Epstein and commends the bravery of Ms. Giuffre and other survivors in standing up for themselves and others.”
Andrew also apologized for the suffering Giuffre has endured as both a victim of sexual abuse and the damage to her reputation and attacks from the public.
The prince’s comments are in direct contrast with how the defense painted Giuffre in the past. The defense accused Giuffre of making the allegations for financial reasons and painted her as someone only interested in money.
“Giuffre has initiated this baseless lawsuit against Prince Andrew to achieve another payday at his expense and at the expense of those closest to him,” Andrew’s lawyers wrote in response to the accusations at the time, according to the New York Times. “Most people could only dream of obtaining the sums of money that Giuffre has secured for herself over the years.”
Giuffre had accused the prince of raping her while she was a victim of sex trafficking by Ghislaine Maxwell and Epstein. According to court documents, Andrew, Maxwell, and Epstein forced Giuffre to sleep with the prince while she was under 18. Giuffre said she feared repercussions if she disobeyed, according to the New York Times.
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Epstein committed suicide while in prison in 2019. Maxwell was recently convicted of five federal charges related to sex trafficking. She is expected to be sentenced on June 28.
