As the United Kingdom prepares to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Elizabeth II’s rise to the throne, a judge in New York today rejected an attempt by the Queen’s third son, Prince Andrew, to dismiss the civil lawsuit against him for sexual assault.
Virginia Roberts Joffre, 38, claimed in a lawsuit she filed last August that from the age of 16, she was a victim of sexual trafficking and abuse on the part of pedophile businessman Jeffrey Epstein, who also “lent it to other powerful men for sexual purposes.”
According to her, one of the personalities was Prince Andrew, who was a close friend of Epstein and his girlfriend, Galein Maxwell. The lawsuit alleges that the Duke of York sexually abused Joffre, who was not yet 18, or sexually assaulted her in New York, London and Epstein’s private island in the Virgin Islands.
Last week, the secret agreement reached between Jupra and Epstein in 2009 was revealed, in which she received $ 500,000 in compensation. The agreement states that Joffre agrees to “release, win, please and exempt from prosecution forever” Epstein and also “secondary parties and any other brother or entity entity that might have been included as a potential defendant”.
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Because of this, in a hearing that took place after the settlement was announced, the prince’s defense team sought to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that Andrew could also be included in the definition of a “potential defendant.” However, the prosecution team on behalf of Jupra rejected this and argued that Jupra’s original lawsuit did not include the duke and therefore he was not part of the settlement with Epstein.
Today, Judge Lewis Kaplan of the Manhattan Federal Court announced that he has decided to allow the civil lawsuit to continue because the 2009 settlement is too vague. “The parties have formulated at least two reasonable interpretations of the critical language,” he wrote in his ruling. “Therefore, the agreement is vague. Accordingly, the decision on the meaning of the language liberating in the 2009 agreement must wait for further proceedings.”
Kaplan added that Jupra’s claim “is not ‘incomprehensible’, ‘vague’ or ‘ambiguous'”. “She alleges distinct cases of sexual assault in certain circumstances in three identifiable places,” the judge noted. “It identifies who she is attributing the sexual assault to.”
The Royal Palace declined to comment on the decision, while Joffre’s lawyer, David Boys, said she was “pleased that Prince Andrew’s efforts to avoid trial have been rejected and that the evidence for his allegations against him will now be presented.” “She is awaiting a legal decision on these allegations,” he said.
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