Prince Andrew: Judge sets January date for hearing into sexual abuse claims

Virginia Giuffre sued the Duke of York for unspecified damages in August

The prince has not been charged with any crime and denies the allegations (AFP via Getty Images)

A date has been set for a hearing in which Prince Andrew’s lawyers will try to have Virginia Giuffre’s claims of sexual abuse against her as a teenager dismissed.

A US judge on Thursday scheduled the hearing for 4 January 2022 in light of Ms Giuffre’s accusation that the Duke of York sexually abused her when she was under 18 years of age.

The district judge Lewis Kaplan issued the order a day after saying he expected Ms Giuffre’s civil case against the prince to take place between September and December 2022.

Ms Giuffre, 38, sued Andrew for unspecified damages in August this year.

She accused Queen Elizabeth’s second son of forcing her to have sex more than two decades ago at the London home of the British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, and abusing her at two homes belonging to the financier Jeffrey Epstein.

The prince, 61, has denied the allegations, and accused Ms Giuffre of trying to profit from accusations against Epstein – who Ms Giuffre claims also abused her – and people who knew him. The prince has not been charged with any crime.

Epstein killed himself in a Manhattan jail in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. A medical examiner called his death a suicide.

Maxwell has pleaded not guilty to criminal charges that she helped recruit and groom underage girls for Epstein to abuse. Her trial is scheduled to begin on 29 November.

The prince’s lawyers requested last week that a New York judge throw out the lawsuit accusing him of sexually abusing the then 17-year-old Ms Giuffre.

Prince Andrew’s legal team said that he “never sexually abused or assaulted” the accuser.

In papers filed in Manhattan federal court, Andrew Brettler, the prince’s attorney, said: “Without diminishing the harm suffered as a result of [Jeffrey] Epstein’s alleged misconduct, Prince Andrew never sexually abused or assaulted Giuffre. He unequivocally denies Giuffre’s false allegations against him.”

Mr Brettler has asked that the lawsuit, which he described as “baseless”, be thrown out or that lawyers for Ms Giuffre be required to refile the lawsuit with a more definitive statement of her allegations.

“Accusing a member of the world’s best-known royal family of serious misconduct has helped Giuffre create a media frenzy online and in the traditional press. It is unfortunate, but undeniable, that sensationalism and innuendo have prevailed over the truth,” the filing said.

“Giuffre has initiated this baseless lawsuit against Prince Andrew to achieve another payday at his expense and at the expense of those closest to him. Epstein’s abuse of Giuffre does not justify her public campaign against Prince Andrew,” the written arguments said.