Prince Andrew Attack on Sex Abuse Suit ‘Won’t Hunt,’ Judge Says

(Bloomberg) -- Prince Andrew's arguments to dismiss Virginia Giuffre's lawsuit accusing him of sexual abusing her when she was a teenager were greeted skeptically by a U.S. judge.

In a Tuesday hearing in Manhattan federal court, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan expressed doubt that Andrew was protected by a confidential 2009 settlement between Giuffre and Jeffrey Epstein. The British royal argued that a broad litigation release contained in that deal covered him.

The judge was even blunter when Andrew's lawyer tried to argue that Giuffre's claims were insufficiently clear.

“That is not a dog that's going to hunt here,” Kaplan said.

Giuffre claims Andrew was one of several powerful men to whom Epstein “lent” her for sexual abuse as a teenager. Andrew has denied her allegations. The judge read a section from the lawsuit that described an alleged encounter in London during which Epstein, his girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell and Andrew forced an underage Giuffre to have sexual intercourse.

‘No Doubt'

“It was sexual intercourse. Involuntary sexual intercourse,” said Kaplan. “There's no doubt about what that means, at least since somebody else was in the White House,” an apparent reference to Bill Clinton, who appointed him to the federal bench.

The judge said he'd make a decision on Andrew's motion “pretty soon” but did not set a specific time for a ruling. He declined to delay the pretrial exchange of evidence, a sign he may allow the suit to go forward.

Giuffre signed the $500,000 settlement with Epstein in November 2009 after suing him earlier that year. The release covers Epstein, his lawyers, employees and “any other person or entity who could have been included as a potential defendant” in her suit.

But Kaplan questioned how Epstein could have expected the agreement, which was intended to remain secret, to be used by Andrew to protect himself. Kaplan further suggested that only Epstein and Giuffre -- not Andrew -- had authority to enforce the release.

The nine-page agreement, which was made public on Monday, includes a requirement that the amount of the settlement remain confidential. The parties also agreed that the deal “should not in any way be construed as an admission by Jeffrey Epstein” that he violated any federal or state laws.

The settlement was also raised by Harvard Law School Professor Alan Dershowitz, with whom Giuffre claims Epstein forced her to have sex. She sued Dershowitz for defamation in 2019 after he repeatedly denied her claims and called her a liar. Dershowitz, who previously represented Epstein, counter-sued Giuffre for defamation and infliction of emotional distress.

Andrew, Queen Elizabeth's second son, stepped aside from representing the royal family publicly after a disastrous 2019 interview with the BBC in which he sought unsuccessfully to lay to rest suspicions tied to his friendship with Epstein and Maxwell.

The case is Giuffre v. Prince Andrew, 21-cv-06702, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).