The woman suing Prince Andrew with claims he sexually assaulted her at Jeffrey Epstein’s Manhattan mansion when she was still a minor isn’t fazed by his latest challenge to her lawsuit, her lawyer says.
Virginia Giuffre expects to move forward with her complaint against the Duke of York despite his claims Tuesday that she lacks the standing to sue him in federal court in New York because she now lives in Australia, her lawyer Sigrid S. McCawley said in a statement to Rolling Stone.
“This is just another in a series of tired attempts by Prince Andrew to duck and dodge the legal merits of the case Virginia Giuffre has brought against him. All parties in litigation are subject to discovery, and Prince Andrew is no exception, despite what he may think,” McCawley said late Tuesday.
Earlier on Tuesday Prince Andrew’s lawyers filed a motion claiming the complaint Giuffre filed against the British royal on Aug. 9 should be dismissed because Giuffre no longer lives in the U.S. and therefore isn’t entitled to diversity jurisdiction in U.S. District Court.
In the new filing in the Southern District of New York, defense lawyer Andrew Brettler argued that “recently discovered evidence” proves Giuffre isn’t a legal resident of Colorado, as her complaint alleges. He said Giuffre has lived in Australia during all but two of the last 19 years, and although she registered to vote in Colorado in February 2020 using her mother’s address, she hasn’t lived in the state since 2019.
Oral arguments related to the prince’s motion to dismiss Giuffre’s lawsuit are set for Jan. 4.
Giuffre, 38, is one of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s chief accusers.
She alleges the disgraced financier, who died by suicide while awaiting trial in 2019, sexually abused her and trafficked her to his powerful friends, including Prince Andrew.
Prince Andrew, 61, has denied her claims, saying he doesn’t recall ever meeting Giuffre and assumes the infamous photo showing him with his arm around Giuffre’s waist with a smiling Maxwell in the background must be doctored.
The prince has not faced any criminal charges related to Giuffre’s claims. He is asking the court to stop all discovery efforts in the case until the issue of jurisdiction is resolved.