A judge in the US has denied a motion from lawyers for the Duke of York to halt proceedings in a civil lawsuit against the Queen’s son while an issue of where his accuser lives is dealt with.
Earlier this week Andrew’s lawyers had called for the case against the royal in the US to be stopped because Virginia Giuffre is “actually domiciled in Australia”.
Ms Giuffre is suing Andrew for allegedly sexually assaulting her when she was a teenager.
But Judge Lewis Kaplan, in a ruling in New York dated December 31, denied Andrew’s lawyers’ request, stating that Ms Giuffre’s legal team has previously received “at least one comprehensive request for documents relating to her domicile, to which responses are due, and have been promised, by January 14”.
The judge added that his ruling was being made “without determining the merit, or lack of merit” of an assertion by Ms Giuffre’s team that Andrew’s lawyers’ motion was “a transparent attempt to delay discovery into his own documents and testimony”.
-
An artist's sketch of Ghislaine Maxwell, former girlfriend of disgraced US financier Jeffrey Epstein, listening as the guilty verdict for trafficking a minor is read in a New York City court. She was found guilty on five of six charges. Reuters -
Kevin Maxwell, Isabel Maxwell and Christine Maxwell, siblings of Ghislaine Maxwell, outside the New York City court where Ghislaine Maxwell, former girlfriend of disgraced US financier Jeffrey Epstein, was found guilty of trafficking minors. Reuters -
Defence lawyers Laura A Menninger and Jeffrey Pagliuca leave court in New York City after the guilty verdicts in the trial of Ghislaine Maxwell, former girlfriend of disgraced US financier Jeffrey Epstein. Reuters -
Kevin Maxwell, brother to Ghislaine Maxwell, leaves the New York City court where Ghislaine, former girlfriend of disgraced US financier Jeffrey Epstein, was convicted on five of six charges including trafficking a minor and transporting a minor for criminal sexual activity. Reuters -
News media outside the US Federal District Court House in New York City after Ghislaine Maxwell was found guilty on five of the six charges she faced. EPA -
A New York courtroom artist's sketch shows United States District Judge Alison Nathan reading guilty verdicts against Ghislaine Maxwell, former girlfriend of disgraced US financier Jeffrey Epstein. AP -
Defence lawyer Bobbi Sternheim leaves the New York City court where a jury found Ghislaine Maxwell guilty of recruiting and grooming young girls to be sexually abused by her (Maxwell's) former boyfriend, US financier Jeffrey Epstein. AFP -
Defence lawyer Bobbi Sternheim leaves the New York City court where a jury found Ghislaine Maxwell guilty of recruiting and grooming young girls. AFP -
A courtroom sketch shows Ghislaine Maxwell, left, listening with her lawyer Jeffrey Pagliuca as a jury returns a guilty verdict in her sex trafficking trial in New York. AP
Ms Giuffre claims she was trafficked by disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein to have sex with Andrew, and was pictured with the royal and his friend Ghislaine Maxwell during the period the alleged intercourse took place.
Ms Giuffre has alleged in the past she had sex with Andrew in London and New York when she was aged 17, a minor under US law, and again aged 18 on a private Caribbean island owned by Epstein where an orgy took place.
Andrew has denied all the allegations.
Oral arguments via a video teleconference on the prince’s request to dismiss the case are scheduled for Monday in the US, it has been reported.
Maxwell, 60, was convicted in the US on Wednesday of helping to entice vulnerable teenagers to the properties of Epstein, her former boyfriend, for him to sexually abuse between 1994 and 2004.
She was labelled “dangerous” by the prosecution and faces the rest of her life in jail.
Her friendship with Andrew has seen renewed scrutiny of Ms Giuffre’s civil claim for damages against the duke.
Andrew was photographed, for the first time since Maxwell’s conviction, driving himself in a Range Rover towards Windsor Castle at lunchtime on Friday.
