Virginia Giuffre to Reportedly Hand Prince Andrew Secret Doc Able to Defeat Her Lawsuit

Earlier this week, Prince Andrew's lawyer finally agreed to admit that he had been served with legal papers related to Virginia Giuffre's sex assault case against the Duke of York. In a bid to "clear his name", Prince Andrew's legal team is now ready to engage in a legal battle after reportedly "stonewalling" for a long time.

The legal team of Virginia Robert Giuffre, who claims she was forced to have sex with Prince Andrew when she was a minor, is set to hand the Duke of York a copy of a “release” signed in 2009 after Giuffre's settlement with late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, The Sun reported.

While the royal's lawyers expressed hope that the document may exempt the duke from any culpability in the sex assault allegations, Giuffre's legal team said that it was "irrelevant", noting that it would rather be releasing lawyers, employees, agents, and heirs from liability in connection with the Epstein case.

“Although we believe that the release is irrelevant to the case against Prince Andrew, now that service has been accepted and the case is proceeding to a determination on the merits, we believe that counsel for Prince Andrew have a right to review the release and to make whatever arguments they believe appropriate based on it", said David Boies, Giuffre's lawyer, as cited by The Sun.

The development comes shortly after Prince Andrew dropped his strategy of "stonewalling" and eventually accepted being served legal papers connected with the sex assault case, with reports saying that the duke's team is now eager to "clear his name". Having admitted to being served, Prince Andrew's attorneys have to prepare a response for the court by 29 October.

While the said settlement with Jeffrey Epstein is considered to be part of the duke's strategy, a report by the Daily Mail suggested, citing insiders, that the document will be of no use for his legal defence.

However, other sources cited in the media say that, by pushing her civil lawsuit forward, Giuffre "has actively invited legal scrutiny of her own version of events".

“This provides an opportunity for the duke’s team to properly scrutinise the multiple inconsistencies in her narrative that have emerged over the years, and you can expect to see a rigorous defence of all her allegations", a source close to the royal told The Sun.

The showdown between Giuffre, who accuses Prince Andrew of sexual assault, and the Duke of York, who vehemently denies any wrongdoing, dates back to 2019. At the time, in a bid to defend his reputation over alleged contacts with late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Prince Andrew gave an interview that appeared to only make things worse, and the royal faced major backlash afterwards. Later in the year, Prince Andrew stepped down from his royal duties.

Currently, according to some reports, there is a chance that the Queen may consider stripping him of the HRH (His Royal Highness) title in the wake of the scandal surrounding the alleged sex assault.