Prince Andrew - son of Elizabeth II - accused of raping minors

On Monday, a federal court in New York accepted the lawsuit of Australian resident Virginia Giuffre against Prince Andrew, reports Insider. She has testified in the past against the pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, who committed suicide in prison two years ago.

According to Giuffre, 20 years ago, when she was 17, Epstein, his girlfriend Gilaine Maxwell and Prince Andrew forced her to have sexual intercourse with the prince. According to Giuffre, this happened three times - at Maxwell's London home, at Epstein's mansion in New York and on Epstein's private island in the Virgin Islands. At the same time, the prince was aware of her age and that he was a victim of the sex trade. The victim could not refuse, because, according to her, she feared "death or physical injury" if she did not obey the orders of Epstein and Maxwell.

“I hold Prince Andrew responsible for what he has done to me. The powerful and the rich are not exempt from responsibility for their actions. I hope other victims will see that they can overcome their fear and break the silence by demanding justice, ”Giuffre said through her lawyers. The woman filed a lawsuit shortly before the expiration of the time limit that allows victims of child sexual abuse to go to court.

Virginia Giuffre first mentioned Prince Andrew during the Jeffrey Epstein hearing in 2015. She spoke under oath that from 1999 to 2002 she was a sex slave at Epstein, serving him and his friends, including Prince Andrew and the famous lawyer, Harvard professor Alan Dershowitz. After that, Epstein entered into an out-of-court settlement with Giuffre, but the royal family did not respond to the allegations, although the victim's lawyers made several attempts to contact Prince Andrew.

The prince claims to have befriended the multimillionaire Epstein in 1999, but knew nothing of his crimes. Although back in 2010, after Epstein was found guilty of sex trafficking, the prince was photographed in his company.

In July 2019, Epstein was again charged with child trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation, and in August of the same year he died in prison, according to the official version of suicide. Epstein's former girlfriend and business associate, British socialite Gilaine Maxwell, is now in jail in New York awaiting trial on charges of luring minors into sex.