On August 9th, Virginia Giuffre filed her civil lawsuit against Prince Andrew in New York. Her lawyers had been trying to negotiate with Andrew’s lawyers for months/years, but Andrew’s lawyers kept ignoring their threats. Andrew still hasn’t been “served” with the paperwork of the lawsuit, because that’s not really the way it works in the UK. Instead, as soon as Virginia sued him, Andrew went running to mummy in Balmoral, and he hid out in Scotland for two weeks. Then he hightailed it back to Windsor, where he is apparently still dodging the process server who is trying to inform him about Virginia’s lawsuit. LOL.
Prince Andrew is hiding in his royal mansion to avoid officials trying to serve a rape lawsuit on him, it is claimed. Security guards stopped “multiple attempts” by lawyers last week to hand the document to The Duke of York at Royal Lodge.
It accuses Andrew, 61, of raping sex slave Virginia Guiffre in 2001 when she was a “frightened and vulnerable child”. The mum of three, now 38 — who says she was “lent out” by disgraced Jeffrey Epstein and his madame Ghislaine Maxwell — is demanding damages.
Prince Andrew, not seen in public for 19 days, is said to be refusing to leave his home, which is set in 98 private acres in Windsor Great Park, Berks.
If he refuses to accept the civil summons, issued by a New York court clerk three weeks ago, the Duke risks facing a “judgment by default” next month. An insider said “more attempts will be made” to hand the papers to Andrew but a source said: “There’s no way he will risk poking his head outside right now. He will stay out of view.”
A spokesman for the Duke did not wish to comment.
Virginia’s main lawyer is David Boies, who is pretty well-known and well-respected in American legal circles. Boies was part of Hollingsworth v. Perry, which overturned California’s Prop 8 and legalized same-sex unions in the state. He’s not actually known for doing attention-grabbing stunts like, say, Gloria Allred. But I think it’s hilarious that Boies is trying this hard to facilitate the process-serving on Andrew, to the point that Andrew is hiding out in his mansion and refusing to accept the lawsuit paperwork. Andrew is such a g–damn coward. I wonder if Boies is like “if you have to jump out of some bushes while he’s riding a horse, then do what you gotta do.”
Meanwhile, the FBI still considers Andrew a person of interest in their still-ongoing investigation into Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, and the FBI still wants to interview him. From The Sun:
Britain faces increased pressure from the US to hand over Prince Andrew for questioning over sex abuse claims. President Biden’s office made a rare statement amid claims of frustration over the Duke of York’s stonewalling.
Officials want the UK to reaffirm its “close and resilient” evidence-sharing relationship. The Department of Justice sent a mutual legal assistance request to the Home Office last year to try to force Andrew’s cooperation. Following enquiries about the Duke, a US government official said: “The US and the UK have a close, productive and resilient law enforcement and mutual legal assistance relationship. We remain in close contact on many active cases on a daily basis and will continue to seek assistance in criminal matters as we provide similar assistance in return.”
Andrew, 61, has resisted approaches to cooperate with a criminal investigation into dead billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein and his alleged co-conspirators. US prosecutors — who are unravelling Epstein’s sprawling underage sex trafficking operation — accused Andrew of “zero cooperation” last year.
Basically, the FBI is just putting some gentle pressure on their British counterparts that all of this is a two-way street, that America and Britain enjoy a fruitful and mutually beneficial law enforcement relationship but y’all really need to stop hiding Andrew.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
THIS is the royal, they REALLY hope will fade into obscurity, not Harry, lol.
That part!
In fact, im pretty sure they are so desperate for andrew and this lawsuit to go into obscurity that the palace has put out order to the newspapers to write about harry and meghan instead.
This is a national disgrace! What makes it more of a disgrace is the fact that the establishment, government and British press are actively trying to protect the most high profile dysfunctional families in the world by throwing the Sussexes under the bus constantly. The glitter has truly fallen off the turd.
I actually enjoyed the words the Sun used in the first article. “Sex slave,” “raping,” “rape lawsuit,” they quoted the “when she was a frightened and vulnerable child,” they call Ghislaine Maxwell a “madame,” they say Virginia was “lent out.” This is some pretty harshly accurate word choice and I am here for it. The phrase “hiding in his royal mansion,” makes sure that we know that he is a prince, living in a royal mansion, and connects his bad behavior with the family and the institution. I don’t think the press is protecting him, anymore. They might not write as many articles about him as they do about some ridiculous Harry and Meghan pretend controversy, but this article that they did write is scathing in its wording.
The second article all about how he’s refusing to cooperate with the implication that the British government is shielding him from any consequences, even having to give an interview, is gross. The article itself is good, I’m glad they’re telling us what’s happening, but the fact that just because he’s Prince Andrew, member of the royal family, he gets to just avoid any legal consequences because the Queen says so is vile.
Amy Too, I agree! Truth hurts. It is appalling that there is no public outcry against Andrew. The royals think they’re above the law and it couldn’t be clearer.
@ Amy Too – yes. Language is so important, and the fact that the press are starting to use words like that show that the tides may be turning a bit for Andrew (and maybe for that whole dysfunctional family).
@Amy Too-Also agreeing. It is good to see that language used. Especially after coming across this over the weekend and Tominey’s f&ckery of an explanation for how she wrote it.
https://brokenbottleboy.substack.com/p/hiding-behind-a-headline-telegraph
The Dodgy Duke is dodging. Maybe someone can go undercover as a Pizza Express delivery person..any York birthday parties coming up?
Why do they bother trying to stop it? Once the information gets out from Maxwell’s trial, it will taint the RF anyway. They can’t outrun this forever.
The Twitterverse has suggested they give the papers to a young(ish) woman to carry in to Andrew. Apparently the RPOs are known to allow women free and easy access to Royal Lodge. Sounds about right to me as the RPOs have enabled and facilitated Andrew’s trafficking for years.
That sounds sinister about allowing young women access to the grounds. Is that so Andrew can ogle and entice them in for some entertainment? Gross how he’s enabled. I hope one of them is a process server.
I hope Boies keeps up the pressure. It not only publicly humiliates the crown, it shows Andrew for the coward he is. I hope they do get a default judgment.
My prediction is Andrew won’t respond to lawsuit and Virginia will win a judgement by default.
I agree. I think his team believes this will be the “cleanest” way to end things. They can argue that he only lost because he didn’t get to defend himself and there’s secret evidence which would have exonerated him, etc.
Nobody will believe it though. And Virginia and her lawyer will be free to give interviews, they should have settled it if they wanted an NDA.
Thing here is that the UK public is still – rightly – outraged about Harry Dunn, 19 yo who was killed by a US Intel officer’s wife. She bolted for the US claiming diplo immunity and the US has ignored all requests to turn her over… They’re not going to give up Andy.= – nor will the UK govt likely do anything the help enforce any judgement. So she’ll get her “win” but he will be able to continue to deny.
There should be a trade, like the old Cold War spy swaps.
I suspect Andrew will successfully assert diplomatic immunity. Let’s face it, the US and the UK want this to go away.
I don’t think the US wants Andrew’s case to go away. Otherwise they wouldn’t make a request to speak to him. They’re not going to arrest him but they do want know what he knows.
Agreed the murderer should be turned over. But I’m not sure with the UK gov refusing to turn Andy over but yet trying to convince the US to honor their agreement if it works that way. I wonder if they’re saying “give us the rapist and we’ll give you the murderer” and the UK gov is like nope.
Though if she rightly had diplomatic immunity, wouldn’t that jeopardize the diplomatic immunity of all the UK diplomats by setting a precedent to which it can be revoked? The UK gov probably doesn’t want the US to give them them the murderer either.
The problem is that she is not just a diplomat’s wife. That was used to get her out of the UK. She works for the US government. And they are being very, very, careful about releasing any information about what she does. And the Justice Dept stated she’s never going back to the UK. They agree she should be held responsible but any legal punishment will have to go through the US courts.
@Willow, that’s interesting, I didn’t know that they said she’d have to face the US justice system. Have any charges actually been filed against her, or do we think they’re just saying that in the hopes that everyone will just forget about it if they wait a while? 😒
They will find that Americans have a different view when it comes to sex abuse of minors or even adult women.
Arguments that he did not have his day in court or were not allowed to defend himself will not fly. The deference that he receives from the BM is just that, deference by the BM. It will not extend to American publications. There will be 24 /7 coverage of this matter. Every talk show and its mother will be covering this
This will not go away. Can’t happen to a better family. and no amount of Meghan avocado stories will help.
No NDA? Jeepers. I am getting my pop corn ready.
Is anyone else surprised that Ghislaine hasn’t met some mysterious end by now?
+1
Very. I wonder if someone who wants the rapists brought down is protecting her?
Bill Barr wanted Epstein dead because of the connection to his father. Also, killing Maxwell would have forced a re-examination of Epstein’s death.
I was going to say “so his legal strategy is to do nothing?” but I remembered this is Andrew who most likely isn’t listening to his lawyers and thinks he can just be quiet and it’ll go away. I’m no lawyer at all but I heard Andrew’s lawyers could try and get the case moved to the UK but either they haven’t tried that yet or think they’ve got no chance at moving it.
There’s no way that’s happening. American courts are very protective of their jurisdiction. All the witnesses are in the US, the incidents happened in the US. Virginia is the plaintiff and a US citizen. No way the moving a case just because it is inconvenient for a member of the RF.
Wanna bet this is going to be covered as exhaustive as Obama’s birthday?
Only in my dreams.
It hasn’t been covered as exhaustively as the time Meghan closed her own car door.
I’m not even exaggerating or being facetious; it really does seem like that got way more column inches overall than Virginia’s lawsuit has.
This is the man the military have been forced to keep as a patron? The man who hides from a civil lawsuit, the man accused of raping trafficked minor(s) seems to be someone the British public have no issue supporting. The entire thing is disgusting and very disturbing.
I have seen that the deadline for PA is Sept 13.. I am sure his attorneys have the lawsuit so PA knows what he is facing even if he is not served. If they rule against PA in a default judgement will the evidence they have against PA be entered into the court records? Will it be televised? Will the federal prosecutors office have a press conference regarding the civil suit and why they want to speak to PA as a “person of Interest”?
Since British authorities choose not to honor fbi requests can the USA refuse cooperation and deny entry to the British? (Or at least deny diplomatic entry)..
Just some of the questions I have …
Not sure if any of these can or will happen but I have lost all respect for anything British especially their Monarchy.
Cessily— I only have a few answers to your questions:
1. No evidence is necessary to enter a default judgment; nothing will be filed to the court docket except the judge’s decision.
2. S.D.N.Y. doesn’t televise its proceedings.
3. No idea. I’m not sure what kind of strategic value there would be to issuing a statement, which is the only reason why they’d do so. This close to the Maxwell’s trial, I don’t think they’d do it.
4. No idea. That goes into the realm of international relations. Sure, this is high profile and very public, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s high up on the list of priorities.
Cessily, your 1st paragraph was spot on. That’s exactly the way Andrew should be described in the press. But the British medial will not describe him that way; nor will they tie his alleged actions to the fact that English taxpayers seem happy to subsidize his living situation, and are ok with his mommy protecting him at every turn. Unless he is painted that way in the press, he will go on in this way (still the nominal patron of way-too-many orgs) for as long as he (or his mummy) lives.
Also, I hate throw cold water when many are praising the BM, but the article by The Sun above with references to rape, lending out Virginia, etc. was quoting from a document Virginia’s lawyers tried to hand to Andrew. (Yes, it’s a step in the right direction that the BM actually used/quoted the precise language in the legal document, but we all know the BM has shown less reluctance to throw Meghan and Harry under the bus for buying a house w/ their own money.) So, until the BM actually start writing about Andrew the way they went after Meghan for, I don’t know, existing, they don’t deserve any credit in my book.
Prince Andrew is a horrible person and I’m glad Virginia has a pitbull, prominent lawyer who will not be cowed by the royal connections. But Boies should never be mentioned without mentioning that he was another monster’s long-time legal advisor and, in fact, Boies’ firm allegedly directed private intelligence company Black Cube to spy on alleged victims of Harvey Weinstein’s sexual abuse and on reporters.
Thank you. Boies is no hero. He was Harvey Weinstein’s legal muscle to silence his victims, AND he was the legal bully hired by Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos to intimidate former employees who tried to sound the alarm that the technology was flawed and people were getting inaccurate test results.
Uh huh, and it’s H&M who are endangering the special relationship between the UK and US? I love how blunt the language is getting about Andrew.
My opinion of Boies was solidified when I read about his intimidation tactics and in “Bad Blood”. He represented Theranos. He’s one of the scariest pit bulls out there.
This is truly shameful.
Fergie IMO was sent to the media to no avail.
To make this right AG Merrick Garland will have to reverse the decision to protect Harry Dunn’s assailant ( the diplomat’s wife who admitted guilt) and send her to the UK to stand trial. Trump was playing games with this case and the current DOJ shouldn’t continue the mess. DOJ is looking bad not protecting American citizens that are the victims here. Use it as leverage: you don’t get her unless we get Andy. I’m an American BTW.
Reversing the DOJ decision will not ‘make this right’. That would have no affect whatsoever on Andrew. He has been dodging the FBI questions from way before the Harry Dunn case.
btw, IIRC, I agree she should stand trial.
I would be very surprised if the US reversed their decision. Have you read some of the news articles about this case? The woman who hit Harry isn’t just a diplomat’s wife. She works for the federal government and whatever department she works for is being very careful to release as little information as possible. They are not trying to prevent her from being prosecuted. They are protecting government information. Which sucks, because Harry’s family deserves justice, but I don’t think they’re going to get it.
Does the UK not allow an individual’s attorneys to accept electronic service on behalf of their client?
The Process Server should pretend to be a billionaire from a foreign country who wants Andrew’s ‘help’ in arranging some sort of shady business deal that will net Andrew millions. Betcha’ he’d be miraculously easy to reach, then. Barring something being revealed during Ghislane Maxwell’s trial, I think the best Virginia can hope for is a default judgment. Even then, would Andrew even have to pay anything?