Virginia Giuffre Files Declaration Naming Prince Andrew
Virginia Roberts (later Giuffre) files a sworn declaration in a CVRA case appendix in late December 2014, alleging she was trafficked to Prince Andrew by Epstein and Maxwell on three occasions. The document is initially sealed. When it becomes public, it triggers an international scandal and years of legal proceedings involving the Duke of York.
People Involved
On December 30, 2014, Virginia Roberts — who later changed her surname to Giuffre after marriage — filed a sworn declaration as part of the ongoing Crime Victims’ Rights Act litigation in the Southern District of Florida.
In the declaration, Giuffre alleged that Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell had trafficked her to Prince Andrew, Duke of York, for sexual purposes on three occasions: twice in London and once in the U.S. Virgin Islands. She states the encounters occurred when she was 17 years old.
The filing was initially entered under seal and was not public at the time. However, in early January 2015, news of its contents became public — triggering a global media firestorm.
Buckingham Palace issued categorical denials on behalf of Prince Andrew. Andrew gave a widely criticized BBC Newsnight interview in November 2019 in which he denied the allegations and made comments widely regarded as damaging (claiming he couldn’t sweat due to a condition acquired in the Falklands War, offering an account of his whereabouts he said showed he could not have been with Giuffre, and expressing no apparent sympathy for Epstein’s victims).
Giuffre filed a separate civil suit against Prince Andrew in 2021. In February 2022, the suit was settled on undisclosed financial terms. Shortly after, King Charles stripped Prince Andrew of his remaining military appointments and royal patronages. Andrew paid a reported settlement sum of approximately £12 million.
Virginia Giuffre became the most publicly prominent of Epstein’s survivors, speaking extensively about her experiences and advocating for other trafficking victims.