In a 2016 deposition, Virginia Giuffre alleged that she was paid thousands of dollars to have sex with Prince Andrew when she was 17 years old. Virginia Giuffre has previously said that Prince Andrew sexually assaulted her three times. Prince Andrew has always denied the allegations, but she previously filed a lawsuit against him and he settled it in 2022, paying Giuffre an undisclosed amount and making "a substantial donation in support of victims’ rights." The 2016 deposition is part of the batch of legal documents related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein that were recently unsealed.
The recently released documents, which were commonly referred to as "the Epstein list" and had many speculating about what the documents might reveal, are related to Giuffre's defamation lawsuit against Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's former girlfriend.
The lawsuit, in which Giuffre accused Maxwell of damaging her reputation by saying that she lied about sexual abuse, was settled in 2017, but some of the documents remained sealed until recently.
Though accusations against Prince Andrew related to his relationship with Epstein have been known to the public for some time, the release of the previously sealed court documents have brought the allegations to light again.
The recently released documents show that Giuffre was asked if she was “paid 10 to $15,000 by or on behalf of Jeffrey Epstein for having sex with Prince Andrew?”
More from LittleThings: Epstein Court Documents Finally Unsealed: Allegations Against Prince Andrew Come To Light
“Yes, I did receive $15,000. I don't know what equivalent that is to pounds. I received it in American dollars," she responded.
She was asked, “And you didn’t pay taxes on that?” and replied with, "no."
In 2019, Prince Andrew told the BBC that he had “no recollection of ever meeting" Giuffre, but he admits that he knew Epstein. A photograph that was taken in 2001 shows Prince Andrew with his arm around Giuffre's waist. She was 17 at the time. In the photo, Maxwell is standing off to the side.
Maxwell, who is currently serving a 20-year sentence in prison, has tried to say that the photo is "fake," CNN reported last year.
“I don’t believe it is real for a second, in fact, I’m sure it’s not. There has never been an original. I don’t believe it happened and certainly, the way it’s described would have been impossible. I don’t have any memory of going to Tramp [nightclub],” she said to TalkTV.
In 2021, Maxwell was convicted of sex trafficking and recruiting and grooming girls to be sexually abused by Epstein. She was sentenced to prison in 2022.
In another deposition that was recently made public, another woman, Johanna Sjoberg, also mentioned Prince Andrew. In a 2016 deposition that was made public on January 3, Sjoberg said that Prince Andrew “put his hand on [her] breast.”
Though Giuffre's allegations have garnered a lot of attention, she alleges that Epstein made her have sex with other men. In addition to Prince Andrew, she has accused former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, former US Sen. George Mitchel, French model agent Jean-Luc Brunel, and others of sexual abuse, according to the Associated Press.
According to the Associated Press, the unsealing of court documents from Giuffre's lawsuit against Maxwell is now complete.
If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, the National Sexual Assault Hotline provides confidential 24/7 support. Call 800-656-HOPE (4673) or chat online at RAINN.
