Prince Andrew's authorized crew is combating again in US intercourse assault case. This is what it's good to know

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However in addition they look like making an attempt to shift the narrative, alleging in a blistering courtroom submitting that Giuffre’s claims are motivated by cash. CNN has contacted Giuffre’s attorneys in relation to the recent claims; of their preliminary filings for the case, her attorneys stated Andrew had inflicted “emotional misery” on Giuffre that was “extreme and lasting.”

“Giuffre has initiated this baseless lawsuit towards Prince Andrew to attain one other payday at his expense,” Andrew’s attorneys wrote within the paperwork filed on October 29 — the clearest signal but that they’re planning to go on the offensive as they battle to avoid wasting the popularity of the Queen’s third little one.

Giuffre, an alleged sufferer of convicted intercourse offender and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, says she was forced to perform sex acts with Andrew. She says she was trafficked by Epstein and compelled to have intercourse along with his associates — together with the prince — at a time when she was underage (17) within the US.

Giuffre says the assaults occurred in London, New York and the US Virgin Islands, that Andrew was conscious she was a minor on the time, and that she had been trafficked by Epstein.

Andrew, 61, has persistently denied the claims, telling the BBC in 2019: “It did not occur. I can completely categorically let you know it by no means occurred. I’ve no recollection of ever assembly this girl, none by any means.”

The place do issues stand within the courtroom case?

A key pre-trial convention within the civil case, filed by Giuffre at a district courtroom in New York, is because of happen on Wednesday, the courthouse confirmed to CNN.

Submitting the lawsuit in August, Giuffre’s attorneys stated the damage from the alleged incidents was “extreme and lasting.”

Andrew’s authorized crew had till final week to answer the allegations. They asked for the lawsuit to be dismissed, saying it violates the phrases of a confidential settlement settlement Giuffre made with Epstein in 2009.

That settlement, Andrew’s attorneys say, included a “normal launch” of all claims towards Epstein and quite a few different individuals, together with Andrew. Particulars of the settlement had been redacted from the courtroom submitting made by Andrew’s attorneys.

It’s not their first try to have the lawsuit dismissed; in September they claimed the papers had not been properly served and that the case must be thrown out consequently.

Andrew has till July 14 subsequent yr to probably reply questions in regards to the case below oath, following a ruling made by Decide Lewis A. Kaplan final week. The scheduling order signed by the decide in New York implies that if attorneys for Giuffre wish to query Andrew, they need to accomplish that outdoors of courtroom and submit the interview by that date.

Final month, London’s Metropolitan Police power introduced it will take “no further action” towards Prince Andrew, following an investigation sparked by Giuffre’s case.

What’s Andrew’s authorized protection?

Andrew’s attorneys will current their argument to the courtroom on Wednesday, however their filings final week clarify that they’re making an attempt to alter the form of the trial by turning the tables on Giuffre.

The paperwork acknowledge that Giuffre “could be a sufferer of sexual abuse by the hands of Jeffrey Epstein … and nothing can excuse, nor totally seize, the abhorrence and gravity of Epstein’s monstrous conduct towards Giuffre, in that case.”

However the papers additionally search to color Giuffre as money-driven and accuse her of “willful recruitment and trafficking of younger women for sexual abuse.”

They allege that Giuffre “was skilled to and did, the truth is, recruit different younger ladies into Epstein’s intercourse trafficking ring,” and has since “milked the publicity for all she may,” a dramatic escalation within the case that hints at an unsavory spherical of authorized battles forward.

Giuffre’s lawyer, David Boies, didn’t responded to CNN’s request for touch upon the allegations within the courtroom paperwork filed by Andrew’s attorneys.

In her attorneys’ preliminary submitting, Giuffre stated she feared disobeying Epstein, Maxwell and Prince Andrew “on account of their highly effective connections, wealth and authority.”

Boies stated in a press release to the New York Instances final week that Andrew’s legal professional’s movement to dismiss “fails to confront the intense allegations” the prince faces.

“Most individuals may solely dream of acquiring the sums of cash that Giuffre has secured for herself through the years,” Andrew’s attorneys say of their October 29 doc. “This presents a compelling motive for Giuffre to proceed submitting frivolous lawsuits towards people similar to Prince Andrew.”

Prince Andrew’s attorneys declined to remark when contacted by CNN.

Will Andrew must face questions himself?

Andrew has beforehand been accused of not cooperating with makes an attempt to interview him as a part of the investigation into the alleged intercourse trafficking ring Epstein and Maxwell are alleged to have operated.

If Giuffre’s courtroom case continues into the New 12 months and past, he’ll probably must reckon with the mid-July deadline to reply questions below oath.

Till then, although, he isn’t scheduled to seem in courtroom and is unlikely to talk to the media in regards to the case.

The prince stepped back from public duties and has stored a comparatively low public profile since a much-derided television interview with the BBC’s Newsnight program in November 2019.

In that broadcast, Andrew stated he had taken his elder daughter, Princess Beatrice, to a party at a pizza restaurant on the night time it’s claimed he had intercourse with Giuffre. He additionally claimed that for a few years he had been unable to sweat, countering allegations made by Giuffre that he was “sweating profusely” earlier than they’d intercourse when she was 17.

What does this imply for the royals?

The long-running allegations going through Andrew have dramatically tarnished his public standing. Of their movement to dismiss the case, his attorneys acknowledge his “sullied popularity.”

Dealing with pressure from the public and the media within the wake of the Newsnight interview, the Prince stepped back from royal duties in late 2019.

Except for the times following the death of his father, Prince Philip, earlier this yr, he has barely appeared in public since. He was even absent from publicly-released photographs of Beatrice’s wedding ceremony final yr.

The scandal has wider implications for the royal family, which has concurrently been compelled to climate criticism and a claim of racism from Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex over the previous yr. Buckingham Palace stated the couple’s allegations of racism had been”being taken very severely,” whereas Harry’s brother, Prince William, informed reporters: “We’re very much not a racist family.”

British tabloids typically consult with the duke because the Queen’s favourite little one, so his prolonged affiliation with Epstein and Giuffre’s allegations towards him sign a hefty fall from grace.

Whereas the monarch and different senior royals have up to now prevented injury to their very own reputations on account of the Giuffre case, the prospect of Andrew being compelled to reply questions below oath will likely be an unwelcome one for the broader establishment.

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