Giuffre v. Andrew, 579 F. Supp. 3d 429 (2022)

In the case Virginia Roberts Giuffre v. Prince Andrew, Duke of York, in his personal capacity, a.k.a Andrew Albert Christian Edward, Virginia Giuffre (plaintiff), sued Andrew Albert Christian Edward, former Duke of York (defendant), in federal court, alleging that when she was a minor, Jeffrey Epstein trafficked her to Andrew, and he had sexually abused her. Andrew relied on a 2009 agreement between Virginia and Epstein, in which she agreed to release any person who “could have been included as a potential defendant” from liability, in exchange for settling her civil case against Epstein. Andrew argued that he was intended as a third-party beneficiary of the agreement and, therefore, that the “release clause” applied to him. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York held that the language of the agreement was unclear because multiple possible meanings of “potential defendants” existed. Therefore, the defendant was not included under the release clause, nor was he a third-party beneficiary, so he could not invoke the agreement to release himself from potential liability. The Court did not discuss the merit of the allegations of abuse at that time. In February of 2022, the parties announced that they had agreed to a private settlement with undisclosed terms. As a result of the allegations of his association with Epstein’s criminal activities, in November of 2025, King Charles III stripped Andrew of his royal titles in a statement from Buckingham Palace.

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  • 2022

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