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Prince Andrew sued in federal court for alleged sexual abuse
On Monday, an alleged victim of deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein filed a lawsuit against Prince Andrew. In the complaint, she is accusing him of sexually abusing her when she was a minor at Epstein's Manhattan mansion and elsewhere.
The lawsuit, filed by Virginia Roberts Giuffre in federal court in New York, comes almost two years to the day that Epstein died in a New York jail while he was awaiting trial on conspiracy and child sex trafficking charges. The legal action also comes just days before the expiration date of a New York state law that permits alleged victims of childhood sexual abuse to file civil claims that might otherwise be barred by statutes of limitations.
“If she doesn't do it now, she would be allowing him to escape any accountability for his actions,” Giuffre’s attorney, David Boies, chairman of Boies, Schiller Flexner, told ABC News. “And Virginia is committed to trying to avoid situations where rich and powerful people escape any accountability for their actions.”
"I am holding Prince Andrew accountable for what he did to me. The powerful and the rich are not exempt from being held responsible for their actions. I hope that other victims will see that it is possible not to live in silence and fear, but one can reclaim her life by speaking out and demanding justice," Giuffre said, via her lawyers, in a statement to ABC News.
A U.K.-based spokesperson for Prince Andrew said there would be no comment on the suit.
Prince Andrew resigned from all public roles in May 2020 over his ties to Epstein.