4 2GM Wednesday February 16 2022 | the times
News
The Duke of York’s settlement of the
civil sex assault claim against him will
cost him up to £10 million but is “worth
its weight in gold” to the Queen, experts
said last night.
Only last month Prince Andrew, 61,
asked for a jury trial in the case brought
against him by Virginia Giuffre,
threatening the Platinum Jubilee
celebrations.
The agreement is not an admission of
guilt by the duke, who has always stren-
uously denied the allegations against
him. It is understood, however, that
there are no plans for him to return to
public life or regain his title or patron-
ages, although he will attend a thanks-
giving service for the Duke of Edin-
burgh next month.
Ingrid Seward, a royal author, said: “I
think we all knew they would have to
reach a settlement. It wouldn’t go to
court. I don’t think there is any way
Andrew’s lawyers would have allowed
this to go to court. There was a huge
pressure on him to settle.”
Mark Stephens, a partner at the
London law firm Howard Kennedy,
who has been following the case, said
that the settlement could be as much as
£10 million. Under contingency fee
rules in New York state, lawyers are
generally allowed up to 33.3 per cent of
damages won by their clients as legal
fees. It is estimated that Andrew’s legal
fees so far have totalled between
£500,000 and £1 million.
David McClure, author of Royal Priv-
ilege: The Queen’s True Worth, said that
a settlement could be “in the order of
several million dollars”. He added:
“That raises the question, ‘Does he
have the money?’ ”
Amber Melville-Brown, a partner at
the New York office of the London law
firm Withers, said that the settlement
would be “worth its weight in gold to
the Queen as she celebrates her Plati-
num Jubilee”.
Mitchell Epner, a former federal
prosecutor based in New York, said that
the outcome was still a “major victory”
for Giuffre. “This statement does not
include the typical language in an
American settlement, that the defen-
dant neither admits or denies the alle-
gations,” he said.
Neama Rahmani, of West Coast Trial
Lawyers in Los Angeles, noted that the
duke had denied ever knowing Giuffre.
“I think his reputation was destroyed
and this was the final nail in the coffin,”
he said.
The duke was said to have faced pres-
sure from the royal family to settle.
Penny Junor, another royal author, said
that the settlement was likely to come
as a huge relief to the rest of the royal
family. “Going to trial, it could have The Duke of York with a young Virginia Giuffre and Ghislaine Maxwell. He mayHere is the full text of the statement
regarding the out-of-court
settlement reached between the
Duke of York and Virginia Giuffre.
The statement was included in a
letter submitted to the US judge
Lewis Kaplan, who has been
overseeing the civil sex claim
brought by Giuffre.Virginia Giuffre and
Prince Andrew have
reached an out-of-court
settlement.The parties will file a stipulated
dismissal upon Ms Giuffre’s receipt
of the settlement (the sum of which
is not being disclosed). Prince
Andrew intends to make a
substantial donation to Ms Giuffre’s
charity in support of victims’ rights.Prince Andrew has never intended
to malign Ms Giuffre’s character, and
he accepts that she has suffered
both as an established victim of
abuse and as a result of unfair
public attacks.It is known that Jeffrey Epstein
trafficked countless young girls over
many years.Prince Andrew regrets his
association with Epstein, and
commends the bravery of Ms
Giuffre and other survivors in
standing up for themselves and
others.He pledges to demonstrate his
regret for his association with
Epstein by supporting
the fight against the evils
of sex trafficking, and by
supporting its victims.In their own words
“
”
News Prince Andrew
Charlotte Wace, Jonathan Ames
Will Pavia New York
been very, very nasty,” she added. “It
could have been embarrassing, humili-
ating, and it would have been huge
fodder for the tabloid press.”
Lisa Bloom, a lawyer representing
some of Jeffrey Epstein’s victims, tweet-
ed: “We hail Virginia’s victory today.
She has accomplished what no one else
could: getting Prince Andrew to stop
his nonsense and side with sexual abuse
victims. We salute Virginia’s stunning
courage.”
A leaked email allegedly written by
Ghislaine Maxwell has suggested that
the photograph of Andrew with Giuffre
was real. The email, obtained by the
Daily Mail, could have had an impact on
the civil case, the paper reported.
Maxwell had written “I think it is”
when asked about whether the photo,
in which she featured, was authentic. It
emerged that the original version of the
photograph had been lost, meaning
that Giuffre may not have been able to
have it admitted as evidence.
The judge ordered a stay on the case,
while warning that it would go to trial if
the deadline for payment was not met.
Lawyers for both sides said they would
seek the dismissal of the suit “upon Ms
Giuffre’s receipt of the settlement”.
In a letter to the United States district
court yesterday, Andrew’s lawyers said
he had “never intended to malign Ms
Giuffre’s character”. He “regrets his
association” with Epstein, it said.
The agreement states that the duke
will donate to Giuffre’s charity in
support of victims’ rights and that he
has pledged to “demonstrate his regret
for his association with Epstein” by
supporting the “fight against the evils of
sex trafficking, and by supporting its
victims”.
The Labour MP Rachael Maskell,
who represents York Central, has said
that the duke should remove his asso-
ciation with the city. “Carrying a title
does create an ambassadorial relation-
ship with that place, and for somewhere
with a global reputation, such as York,
this is extremely important,” she said.
Quoting a poll from York’s news-
paper The Press, Maskell highlighted
that 88 per cent of people in the city
wanted Andrew’s association with it to
be removed, but said there was “no legal
route by which this can be achieved”.
Representatives for the duke de-
clined to comment, as did Buckingham
Palace and Clarence House.
Prince’s future is far from secure, Times£10m deal ‘would be worth its