Prince Andrew fails in bid to have judge consider articles about Virginia Giuffre

Prince Andrew has failed in his bid to have newspaper cuttings describing his accuser Virginia Giuffre as a ‘money-hungry sex kitten’ taken into account by the New York judge who is considering her claim against him.

District Judge Lewis Kaplan dismissed the request as a PR stunt and refused to consider the press reports or a 139-page manuscript written by Virginia Roberts Giuffre about billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Judge Kaplan said there was ‘no proper basis’ to look at the articles or Ms Giuffre’s manuscript The Billionaire’s Playboy Club – published in 2011 – which he added ‘appear to have been submitted for whatever public relations purposes the defendants advisers may have had in mind’. 

Ms Giuffre, 38, has claimed she was forced to have sex with Prince Andrew three times in 2001, when she was just 17.

The judge did agree to consider a 2009 settlement deal between Ms Giuffre and Epstein, that the Duke’s legal team previously said releases him from any responsibility, reported the Daily Telegraph.

District Judge Lewis Kaplan dismissed the request as a PR stunt and refused to consider the press reports or a 139-page manuscript written by Virginia Roberts Giuffre about billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Pictured, Prince Andrew yesterday

Ms Giuffre’s legal team say the settlement was ‘irrelevant’ because the Duke was not part of the proceedings and not covered by the release. They also said the Duke used the newspaper articles to ‘smear’ Ms Giuffre. 

The Duke’s lawyers want the civil action to be dismissed, said it was ‘baseless’ and added that ‘sensationalism and innuendo have prevailed over the truth’.

Ms Giuffre seeks unspecified damages.

In October the Duke’s lawyers submitted a rebuttal of the ‘threadbare’ complaint, attaching media reports and Ms Giuffre’s manuscript as evidence.

In one of the media reports a US newspaper quotes former friends who slammed Ms Giuffre for bragging about her money.

In another her ex-boyfriend Philip Guderyon, who was with her during the time she spent with Epstein, claimed she ‘was like the head b***h’ at Epstein’s Palm Beach mansion.  

‘She’d have nine or 10 girls she used to bring to him. She never looked like she was being held captive,’ he added.

Ms Giuffre, center, who says she was trafficked by sex offender Jeffrey Epstein

An interview Ms Giuffre gave The Mail on Sunday in 2011 for an alleged $160,000 was also submitted as evidence. 

Of the manuscript, the Duke’s lawyers want to use a description of a liaison with Prince Andrew in Mexico, which Ms Giuffre later admitted did not happen, to prove their case. 

Judge Kaplan will hear arguments on the Duke’s motion to dismiss on January 4. 

Meanwhile, British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell could face an 80-year prison sentence if found guilty of six sex trafficking charges, and is currently making a staunch defence case with her lawyers against the claims. 

A judge in New York, not related to the Maxwell trial, said a secret 2009 settlement that Prince Andrew’s lawyers say protects him against a lawsuit brought by Ms Giuffre should be made public.

The Duke has become more fond of horse riding in recent times as he seeks to reduce to public profile as the trial of his former friend Ghislaine Maxwell rumbles on in New York City. Pictured: The Duke of York broke out in a huge smile while out with two fellow riders on Wednesday

The agreement was reached by Ms Giuffre and Epstein, who was found hanged in his prison cell in 2019 while awaiting trial.

Giuffre was among dozens of women who accused Epstein, 66, of sexually abusing them when they were underage. 

Attorney Andrew Brettler has argued that the deal also shields the Duke of York from a separate claim brought by Giuffre this year, alleging that Andrew sexually abused her on multiple occasions, including at Ghislaine Maxwell’s London townhouse when she was 17. 

The Queen’s second son, 61, has not been charged with any crime and has always strenuously denied the allegations. 

In a brief order issued on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska said that absent any valid objection by Epstein’s estate, the 2009 deal should be made public on or before December 22 as part of Andrew’s case.

British socialite Maxwell could face an 80-year prison sentence if found guilty of six sex trafficking charges, and is currently making a staunch defence case with her lawyers against the claims 

Preska said the court questions ‘whether any proper purpose would be served by the continued secrecy of the document save, perhaps, the dollar amount the settlement provided it for.’

Ms Giuffre said Epstein forced her to have sex with him at Maxwell’s Belgravia home, and also at Epstein’s homes in Manhattan and the US Virgin Islands.

Andrew has ‘unequivocally’ denied Ms Giuffre’s claims and accused her of seeking ‘another payday’ in her drive to profit from her association with Epstein. 

In the latest bid to have the claim thrown out, Andrew’s layers submitted an 11-page statement on Tuesday accusing Ms Giuffre of being unable to get her story straight.

The duke’s lawyers called her allegations ‘ambiguous at best and unintelligible at worst.’

It comes as a judge in New York, not related to the Maxwell trial, said a secret 2009 settlement that Prince Andrew’s lawyers say protects him against a lawsuit brought by Virginia Roberts should be made public. This picture, dated 2001, shows Andrew (left) with his arm around the bare midriff of a 17-year-old Giuffre (centre), while Ghislaine Maxwell (right) grins in the background

Giuffre, 38, sued Andrew for unspecified damages in August, saying he forced her to have sex with him at Maxwell’s Belgravia home, and also at Epstein’s homes in Manhattan and the US Virgin Islands in 2001, when she was 17 

Andrew’s Hollywood-based legal firm wrote: ‘Giuffre’s refusal to include anything but the most conclusory allegations is puzzling given her pattern of disclosing to the media the purported details of the same allegations included in the complaint.

‘Perhaps it is Giuffre’s tendency to change her story that prompted her to keep the allegations of the complaint vague, so as not to commit to any specific account.’

Andrew’s team will also argue that because Ms Giuffre was above the age of consent in New York at the time of the alleged abuse, she must prove that she was forced to have sex.