Virginia Giuffre said she 'had sex with Prince Andrew', Ghislaine Maxwell witness claims

8 January 2022, 13:06

A victim of Jeffrey Epstein, who testified in the trial of sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell, has alleged Virginia Giuffre said she "had sex with Prince Andrew" in 2001.

Ms Giuffre has filed a lawsuit claiming she was forced to have sex with Jeffrey Epstein’s friends when she was 17, including the Duke of York, who has vehemently denied the claims.

If the case goes ahead the Queen's second son will face a full trial in New York, but Andrew's lawyers have been urging a US judge to dismiss Giuffre’s civil suit against him.

Read more: Prince Andrew asked for evidence of 'inability to sweat' by Virginia Giuffre's lawyers

Now, piling pressure on the prince, Carolyn Andriano claims she saw the famous photo of Andrew at Ghislaine Maxwell’s London home with Ms Giuffre - who later told her that “I got to sleep with him”, reported the Daily Mail.

Ms Giuffre had also texted Ms Andriano that she was to meet Andrew in March, 2001, and go for dinner with him along with Epstein and Maxwell, it has been claimed.

Ms Andriano, 35, gave harrowing testimony against Maxwell at her trial last month.

Read more: Ghislaine Maxwell: The events that led to her trial, as she now faces decades behind bars

Four of the five guilty verdicts against her were underpinned by the evidence of Ms Andriano, including the most serious charge of sex trafficking a minor which carries a maximum 40-year jail term.

Speaking after she waived her legal right to anonymity, Andriano, then 14 and living in Florida, said she was texted by Giuffre (formerly Virginia Roberts, before her marriage) in 2001 from London, who claimed she had slept with the prince.

“[Giuffre] said, ‘I got to sleep with him’,” Andriano told the Mail.

In her Mail interview, Andriano recalled Giuffre texting her in 2001, saying: “You’ll never guess who I’m with…” Andriano replied: “Who?”

Andriano told the Mail: “[Giuffre] said, ‘I’m in London with Jeffrey and Maxwell and Prince Andrew.’

“She said they were going to have dinner. I kind of didn’t believe her, but I had no reason not to. I thought it was far-fetched but, then again, she knew wealthy people and had been to fancy parties and stuff like that.”

The bombshell account is the first time there has been any independent report of Miss Robert’s alleged meeting with Andrew.

Representatives for the Duke declined to comment on the fresh allegations, according to the Mail.

Read more: Ghislaine Maxwell lawyers call for retrial after juror says they were sexual abuse victim

Maxwell, 60, was found guilty of sex trafficking in her court trial on December 29. She was arrested in July 2020, charged with involvement in ex-boyfriend Epstein’s sexual assault of teenage girls.

The Mail said Andriano was not paid for her interview. She told the paper she was speaking out to let “all young women to know what happened to me when I was a teenager and how it has affected my life. This is my story and I want to tell it”.

The news comes as Maxwell's lawyers have called for a retrial after a juror claimed he was a sexual abuse victim.

Two defence lawyers - Jeffrey Pagliuca and Laura Menninger - have since said in a letter to US District Judge Alison J Nathan that "based on undisputed, publicly available information, the court can and should order a new trial without any evidentiary hearing".

"Ms Maxwell intends to request a new trial," they wrote.

"Any submission will include all known undisputed remarks of the juror, including recorded statements, the relevant questionnaire, and other non-controverted facts.

"It is clear to Ms Maxwell that based on this record alone a new trial is required."

The judge has been asked to look into the claims.