Civil Lawsuit Against Epstein-Linked Prince Andrew Could Drag On for 2 Decades, Lawyer Believes

MOSCOW (Sputnik), Jonathan Rowson - A civil lawsuit filed by outspoken Jeffrey Epstein accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre could drag on for two decades as the royal's legal team are likely to provide stiff resistance with every step of the way, Mark Stephens, a prominent UK-based lawyer, said.

Giuffre filed the lawsuit under New York's Child Victims Act earlier this week. In the suit, Giuffre alleges that Prince Andrew sexually assaulted her when she was 17 and that those episodes took place in New York, the US Virgin Islands, and at the London home of Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who is set to go on trial in the United States in autumn. 

Stephens, who specialises in media and human rights law at London-based firm Howard Kennedy, said that Prince Andrew could be the "covert target" in the investigation against Epstein and Maxwell, but added that the royal's lawyers have been successful in "stonewalling" legal proceedings to date.

"It's been five years since this all began, and his lawyers have effectively stonewalled for that period. I can see, given the complexities in this case, that they could stonewall for another decade, maybe two decades, so 10 to 20 years, because all the legal points are susceptible, they're unusual, they're complex, there's not much precedence, and it's going to be difficult to resolve it when you're going to go to the highest court of appeal on each occasion," Stephens said.

Giuffre had until 14 August to file the suit before the expiration of a one-year extension to the Child Victims Act, which allows survivors of childhood sexual abuse to file cases that were time-barred, the lawyer noted.

Stephens also stressed that the civil lawsuit against Prince Andrew could only be heard after the conclusion of any criminal investigation.

"This is a case bristling with complexity because under international law, any criminal case that is going to proceed must proceed before any civil case. So, once the civil case is served on Prince Andrew … then in those circumstances, her case will be saved until such time as the criminal case is concluded, either by declaring Prince Andrew of no interest, of which it effectively means he is a free man, or by saying they wish to charge him and the conclusion of a trial," the lawyer said.

Prince Andrew has no obligation to travel to New York to contest the civil lawsuit in person, and Stephens said that it was likely better for the royal not to go to court, citing his ill-fated interview with the BBC's Emily Maitlis in 2019.

"If he gives an interview he's going to be condemned out of his own mouth, as he was in the Emily Maitlis BBC interview. Or, if he is silent, he will be damned by his own silence. Actually going to court is probably worse than those two options because he would have to give evidence under oath and the detail of the case would then have to come out," Stephens remarked.

Prince Andrew claimed that he had "no recollection" of ever meeting Giuffre in the BBC interview. A photograph allegedly showing the pair together in 2001 has circulated within the media on both sides of the Atlantic.

Giuffre alleges that Epstein, who allegedly committed suicide in jail two years ago, trafficked her when she was 16 years old.