UK's Prince Andrew sued by Jeffrey Epstein accuser over alleged sexual abuse

Alleged victim of Jeffrey Epstein on Monday sued UK’s Prince Andrew in a US court for sexual abuse. American woman Virginia Giuffre had accused the late businessman Epstein of assault and she has now filed a lawsuit in the US federal court on August 9 in Manhattan under the Child Victims Act. The former alleged that when she was just 17 years old, she was sexually assaulted by the British royal Prince Andrew. "I am holding Prince Andrew accountable for what he did to me,” Giuffre said in a statement released on August 9. She furthermore said that she hopes that the other victims of sexual assault would see that  it is, in fact, possible “not to live in silence and fear but to reclaim one's life by speaking out and demanding justice." 

The victim claims in her filing that she was sexually assaulted by UK’s Prince Andrew on multiple occasions in 2001. Her statement accuses the British Royal of abusing her at Epstein's New York mansion as well as at the London home of Ghislaine Maxwell, a longtime associate of Jeffrey Epstein charged with sex trafficking of a minor, according to the federal prosecutors. She was also accused of grooming a 14-year-old girl to engage in sexual acts with Epstein and later paying her. Queen Elizabeth II’s second son, although, denied having any sexual contact with Giuffre. In a televised interview with BBC Newsnight in 2019, the latter had stated that he had "no recollection" of ever meeting with the said victim or sexually abusing her. 

Maxwell's bail requests rejected

In June, British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell lost a bid to be freed on bail ahead of her November trial on the federal charges that she had recruited teenage girls for Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse. The second US Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan had issued orders rejecting Maxwell’s request for bail, although the three-judge panel that made the decision did not elaborate on the reason. A US appeals court had earlier rejected a bail request ahead of Ghislaine’s trial and the prosecutor had at least thrice said no to the bail. When Maxwell's lawyers asked the appeals court judges to at least order the lower-court judge to schedule a hearing for the bail plea where the attorneys can actually produce evidence related to bail, the 2nd Circuit rejected that request as well. The 59-year-old has been incarcerated since last July 2020. She has been charged with sex trafficking and conspiracy for recruiting four females for Epstein to sexually abuse between 1994 and 2004.