NEW YORK – Britain’s Prince Andrew has accepted that he has been served legal papers in a sexual assault suit brought against him in the United States, a court filing showed yesterday.
Lawyers for the Duke of York and his accuser Virginia Guiffre have agreed that the notification was effective September 21, according to the filing with the Southern District of New York.
Queen Elizabeth II’s second son has until October 29 to respond to the suit, and a hearing earlier scheduled for October 13 has been cancelled, said the joint stipulation.
Lawyers for the duke previously argued that legal papers in the case, in which Giuffre is suing for damages, were not properly served.
Earlier this month, Giuffre successfully applied to the England and Wales High Court for it to formally contact him about the case here.
The court later told lawyers for the 61-year-old royal that any challenge to its ruling must be made by September 24.
Giuffre said Andrew sexually assaulted her more than 20 years ago when she was 17, and a minor under US state law.
He has not been criminally charged, and has repeatedly and strenuously denied the allegations.
Giuffre, 38, sued the duke last month, alleging he sexually abused her at the London home of socialite Ghislaine Maxwell.
She also said he assaulted her at the New York home of disgraced US financier Jeffrey Epstein, as well as on Epstein’s private island in the US Virgin Islands.
Guiffre alleged that Epstein, who killed himself while awaiting trial on child sex trafficking charges in 2019, lent her out for sex with his wealthy and powerful associates.
Andrew has rarely been seen in public since he was forced to quit the royal front line in 2019 for failing to distance himself from Epstein.
Maxwell is due to go on trial here on November 29 on charges that she recruited underage girls for Epstein to abuse. She has pleaded not guilty. – AFP, September 25, 2021
