Prince Andrew has been served with sex abuse accuser Giuffre's lawsuit
-court filing
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[September 11, 2021]
By Jonathan Stempel and Mark Hosenball
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Britain's Prince
Andrew has been served with a lawsuit by a woman accusing him of
sexually assaulting and battering her two decades ago, when she asserts
she was also being abused by the financier Jeffrey Epstein, according to
a Friday court filing.
In an affidavit filed with the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, Cesar
Sepulveda, identifying himself as a "corporate investigator/process
server," said he left a copy of Virginia Giuffre's lawsuit on Aug. 27
with a police officer guarding the Royal Lodge in Windsor, England, a
property Andrew occupies.
The London-based Sepulveda said police had told him a day earlier they
were instructed not to accept court documents on Andrew's behalf, but
upon his return was told documents would be forwarded to the prince's
"Legal Team."
Police refused to let him see Andrew or to say where the prince was, he
added.
Spokespeople for Andrew said on Friday that his lawyers had no comment.
A source close to Andrew's legal team said the prince had not been
personally served.
Andrew, 61, is one of the most prominent people linked to Epstein,
charged by Manhattan federal prosecutors in July 2019 with sexually
exploiting dozens of girls and women.
Epstein, a registered sex offender, killed himself on Aug. 10, 2019, at
the age of 66 in a Manhattan jail.
In her lawsuit dated Aug. 9 this year, Giuffre said Andrew forced
her to have unwanted sexual intercourse at the London home of Ghislaine
Maxwell, the British socialite and Epstein's longtime associate.
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Britain's Prince Andrew, Duke of York, looks on during the funeral
of Britain's Prince Philip on the grounds of Windsor Castle in
Windsor, Britain, April 17, 2021. Chris Jackson/Pool via
REUTERS/File Photo
She also said Andrew abused her at Epstein's mansion
on Manhattan's Upper East Side, and on a private island that Epstein
owned in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
In a November 2019 BBC interview, Andrew, who had been a friend of
Epstein, denied Giuffre's claims of sexual abuse, and said he did
not recall meeting her.
"I can absolutely, categorically tell you it never happened," Andrew
said.
An initial conference is scheduled for Monday afternoon before U.S.
District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan. Maxwell faces a scheduled
Nov. 29 trial before a different Manhattan judge on charges she
aided Epstein's sexual abuses. She has pleaded not guilty.
In 2017, Maxwell settled a $50 million civil defamation lawsuit
against her by Giuffre for an unspecified amount. Maxwell is not a
defendant in Giuffre's lawsuit against Andrew.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel and Mark Hosenball; Additional
reporting by Michael Holden in London; Editing by Howard Goller)
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