UK Treasury Claims 'No Public Money' Used in Prince Andrew's Deal With Sex Abuse Accuser Giuffre

Last month Prince Andrew’s legal team had settled out of court on Virginia Giuffre’s civil claim that the late convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and his “pimp” Ghislaine Maxwell had trafficked her out to have sex with the Duke of York on three occasions when she was a minor by US law.The royal has strongly denied her claims and any wrongdoing.

The UK Treasury has confirmed that no public funds had been used to cover the multi-million pound payment to Prince Andrew’s sex abuse accuser, Virginia Giuffre, that is part of a settlement deal finalised on Tuesday.

The HM Treasury had been responding to a request, filed on 15 February, after former MP Norman Baker said it would be "outrageous" if the taxpayer were forced to pay for the settlement. Andy McDonald, Labour MP for Middlesborough, raised a point of order on the issue in the Commons last month and wrote to Steve Barclay, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, asking him to confirm that no public funds had been used to pay Giuffre.

The request was duly considered under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act.

The response, published on 8 March, also noted that Queen Elizabeth II receives the Sovereign Grant to fund her official duties as Head of State, and “no member of the Royal Family receives a private income from the Grant or any other public funds.”

In return for the Sovereign Grant, the monarch “surrenders the revenue from the Crown Estate (which she owns as reigning Monarch) to the government.

The official Treasure response added that as a result, over the last decade, the Crown Estate has returned a total of £2.9 billion to the Exchequer, to be invested in public services such as the NHS, transport, schools and defence, “which benefit the UK as a whole”. This means that the Royal Household’s accounts are held to the same standard of scrutiny and transparency as Government departments.

Britain's Queen Elizabeth arrives with her son Prince Andrew, at Crathie Kirk to attend a Sunday morning church service near Balmoral, Scotland, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2019.

© AP Photo / Robert Perry/PA

The financial deal, believed to exceed £12 million ($15,7), including a £2 million ($2,6) contribution to Virginia Giuffre’s sex trafficking charity, was also finalised on 8 March, reported The Telegraph.

A joint order filed with the New York court and signed by Judge Lewis Kaplan formally dismissed the civil case. It also stated that each side would cover its own costs and fees.

The Duke of York’s legal team last month had reached the out-of-court settlement with Giuffre, who had claimed that she had been trafficked out by the late convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein to be sexually abused and raped by the royal on three separate occasions when she was 17, and a minor by US law. Prince Andrew has always denied Giuffre’s claims and any wrongdoing.

In his settlement deal, the Duke of York, 62, who has since stepped down from official duties and been stripped of his military roles and royal patronages, accepted that she was a “victim of abuse”, and contrary to his “car crash” ‘Newsnight’ interview on 16 November 2019, “regrets his association” with billionaire Epstein.

The convicted financier died behind bars in 2019 while held on sex trafficking charges.

However, at no point in the settlement did Prince Andrew purportedly offer any admission of liability or statement of innocence regarding the Giuffre’s allegations.

The financial deal is understood to have been paid by the Queen, who also purportedly privately funded her second son’s legal battle with Giuffre.

Prince Andrew’s brother, Charles, Prince of Wales, the heir of the British throne, is also said to have made a significant financial contribution to the settlement.

Prince Charles had also reportedly been the one who urged his embattled brother to settle with his accuser, after lawyers revealed the Duke of York would have to give a witness statement in the civil case in New York, according to The Sun.

The decision was taken to avoid further damaging the reputation of the monarchy in the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee year.

Prince Andrew, who lives off a modest Navy pension and annual £250,000 stipend from the Queen, will pay back his brother and the 95-year old monarch when he receives the proceeds from the purportedly £17 million sale of his ski chalet in Verbier, Switzerland, which could take two months.