Wow, Prince Andrew, Prince Charles's Sister, Was Sued For Sexual Harassment

JAKARTA - Prince Andrew, the younger brother of Prince Charles of the United Kingdom, was sued on Monday 8 August for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman three times. The woman, Virginia Giuffre, claims she was "sold" by the late Jeffrey Epstein to the prince.

In a civil lawsuit in Manhattan District Court, US, Giuffre alleges Andrew sexually assaulted her about two decades ago when she was 18 years old.

According to the lawsuit, Giuffre said Andrew forced her to have sexual relations against her will at the home of Epstein's close friend, Ghislaine Maxwell, in London.

A spokesman for the prince could not be reached for comment.

Andrew told the BBC in November 2019 that he had no recollection of meeting Giuffre, and had not had sexual relations with the woman at Maxwell's house because at the same time he had returned home after attending a child's party.

The lawsuit documents say Andrew also abused Giuffre at Epstein's mansion on Manhattan's Upper East Side, and on Epstein's private island in the Virgin Islands.

Giuffre said Epstein raised her as a "sex slave" with Maxwell's help. On the BBC's "Panorama" he said that Epstein took him to London to meet Andrew.

Giuffre's lawsuit, signed by attorney David Boies, accuses Andrew of intentional abuse and emotional distress.

In the lawsuit, Giuffre demanded an unspecified amount of compensation and damages. Giuffre sued Andrew under the Child Victims Act, a law in the state of New York. "I hold Prince Andrew accountable for what he did to me," Giuffre said in a statement.

"The powerful and the rich are not exempt from responsibility for their actions. I hope other victims will see that it is impossible to live in silence and fear, but to reclaim life by speaking out and demanding justice."

Maxwell's attorneys have not yet responded. His client was not a defendant in that case.

Epstein, 66, committed suicide in a Manhattan prison on August 10, 2019, while awaiting trial in a sex trafficking case against him.

A fund to pay compensation for Epstein's sexual harassment has completed processing payments worth more than $121 million to 138 people, the fund's administrator said Monday.

Maxwell pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking and treating underage girls for Epstein to abuse. The trial against him will begin in November.