The agreement between the late disgraced financier and convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and Virginia Giuffre is set to be unsealed and made public for the first time later today on Monday.
The decision to unseal the near-dozen-year-old settlement is a part of Giuffre’s ongoing sexual abuse lawsuit against Prince Andrew.
Giuffre accused Epstein and his longtime partner, and now convicted sex trafficker, Ghislaine Maxwell of forcing her at the age of 17 into having sex with Prince Andrew. The royal has repeatedly stated he is innocent.
Andrew and his legal team believe that the legal agreement between Giuffre and Epstein could release the royal from liability in his case with Giuffre. His top lawyer, Andrew Brettler, has said that the agreement would “end” her lawsuit against Andrew.
The settlement was reached between Giuffre and Epstein, who was the prince’s former friend and died in prison in 2019 before standing trial for sex abuse and sex trafficking allegations against him.
Epstein counted many alongside his associates, including former President Donald Trump. He was arrested in July 2019 for sex trafficking underage and teenage girls.
It is expected that the duke’s legal team will file for the case to be dismissed after the unsealing of the settlement. The presiding judge, US District Judge Lewis A Kaplan, is scheduled to hold a video teleconference tomorrow over the matters.
Only last week, Judge Kaplan denied yet another motion from Prince Andrew’s lawyers to stop the case proceedings, this time over the place of residence of Giuffre. It was one of many attempts from the royal’s legal team to get the case thrown out.
The order to unseal the agreement came just before the new year, on Dec. 29. The judges said that no one had brought forward adequate proof that it needs to remain sealed, and therefore it will be posted publicly.
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