Prince Andrew agrees to give statement under oath in March
By Max Foster and Niamh Kennedy, CNN
Britain’s Prince Andrew has agreed to give a statement under oath on March 10 in the UK as part of the civil case against him, a source close to the Duke of York told CNN on Saturday.
Virginia Giuffre, who alleges she was trafficked by disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein and forced to perform sex acts with the prince at the age of 17, “still hasn’t committed to a date or location for her deposition,” the source added.
Giuffre’s lawyer David Boies last month said in a statement that her legal team was looking “forward to confronting Prince Andrew with his denials and attempts to blame Ms. Giuffre for her own abuse at his deposition and at trial.”
Boies and another lawyer representing Giuffre, Sigrid McCawley, will conduct the deposition, which is expected to last two days, according to the Daily Telegraph.
Andrew, 61, has repeatedly denied Giuffre’s allegations.
The legal drama currently playing out stems from a civil case Giuffre brought against Andrew under New York’s Child Victims Act, a state law enacted in 2019 which expanded the statute of limitations in child sex abuse cases to give survivors more opportunities to seek justice. An attorney for Giuffre told CNN in August filing the civil case was to show “all perpetrators of abuse should be held accountable.”
After a judge ruled the case could proceed, Andrew formally denied allegations and demanded a jury trial, according to a legal filing last month in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Andrew has until July 14 to potentially answer questions about the case under oath. If the case is not settled, he could face a trial date between September and December 2022.
The deposition date revelation comes as Queen Elizabeth marked 70 years on the throne, and the ongoing legal battle will loom over celebrations for the monarch’s historic milestone throughout the year.
The case could have major ramifications for Buckingham Palace. It would be unprecedented for a senior British royal to be entangled in a very public civil lawsuit that would attract attention from around the world.
The long-running allegations against the Queen’s third child have already dramatically tarnished his public standing, and he stepped back from royal duties in late 2019. He was also stripped of military titles and charities last month.
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