A lawyer for Virginia Giuffre has mentioned she is unlikely to just accept a authorized settlement that doesn’t “maintain Prince Andrew to account” in her sexual assault lawsuit towards the duke.
This week, the Queen’s second son – who’s combating the civil US case as a personal citizen – submitted a 41-point denial of Ms Giuffre’s claims, together with allegations that he sexually assaulted her when she was 17 years outdated.
Reportedly sparking some concern at Buckingham Palace, the Duke of York’s legal professionals demanded a trial by jury, probably setting him as much as grow to be the primary member of the fashionable royal household to undergo being cross-examined over severe allegations – within the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee yr.
Nevertheless, some specialists have instructed his shock transfer this week, which included a denial that he was a detailed buddy of the now-convicted Ghislaine Maxwell, may nonetheless preclude a bid to settle.
However Ms Giuffre’s New York lawyer David Boies has repeatedly warned that his consumer just isn’t fascinated with a purely monetary settlement.
“What’s vital for Virginia is to vindicate herself and the opposite victims. To not let somebody escape accountability, simply due to their wealth and energy. To carry Prince Andrew to account. However how that vindication is achieved continues to be open [to discussion],” he instructed The Telegraph.
Mr Boies mentioned he believes Ms Giuffre “could be unlikely to settle in a scenario through which any person simply handed over a cheque”, including: “So if Prince Andrew maintains, ‘I’ve by no means heard of this particular person’, ‘I do not know who she is’, ‘the pictures are pretend’ – then I don’t suppose that we might wish to decide on that foundation.”
He added: “That mentioned, should you had a settlement that was massive sufficient to be, in impact, a vindication, then it’s one thing we might clearly take a look at.”
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Described this month by a former federal prosecutor as “the best deposition taker in trendy American jurisprudence”, Mr Boies mentioned: “We’re wanting ahead to confronting Prince Andrew along with his denials and makes an attempt responsible Ms Giuffre for his personal abuse, each on the deposition and the trial.”
He added: “However an unlucky reality for him is that should you say this stuff whenever you’re submitting papers, it turns into actually exhausting to maintain that below cross-examination. And when you’ll be able to’t maintain these broad denials, you’re not simply again to floor zero, you’re behind, since you’ve misplaced your credibility.”
The duke instructed BBC Newsnight in 2019 that he has “no recollection of ever assembly this woman, none in any way” and – in his denial of dancing along with his 38-year-old accuser at a London nightclub – claimed to have been left unable to sweat after the Falklands Battle.
Earlier this month, Manhattan federal courtroom choose Lewis Kaplan rejected Prince Andrew’s bid to have Ms Giuffre’s case towards him thrown out.
Media lawyer Mark Stephens has warned {that a} trial, and the authorized proceedings earlier than it may threaten the existence of the monarchy by sparking a “debate concerning the relevancy and appropriateness of the royal household”.