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re: EPSTEINs SECRET Deal With Victim & Prince Andrew May Lose Royal Title
Prince Andrew's Lawyers Locked in Emergency Talks Over Maxwell's Conviction
Ghislaine Maxwell was found guilty and the juror's decision is likely to have sparked fear in the Prince Andrew's legal team
BBC News 30 DEC 2021.
Prince Andrew, Duke of York
Ghislaine Maxwell, 60, was found guilty of sex trafficking on Wednesday in a Manhattan federal court trial. The former British socialite was convicted on five of the six charges she faced, including involvement in her ex-boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse of teenage girls.
Following this news, Prince Andrew’s, 61, lawyers have reportedly engaged in emergency talks, the Mirror claims. Despite their concerns, Andrew’s lawyers claim Maxwell's trial was “disastrous” for his accuser Virginia Giuffre. The Duke of York is in the midst of a legal battle against Virginia Giuffre, 38, who claims she was sexually assaulted by the royal when she was just 17.
Prince Andrew's lawyers are locked in emergency talks
Prince Andrew's lawyers were locked in emergency talks last night following the conviction of his pal Ghislaine Maxwell as they considered calling on one of her victims to help him in his US civil case which includes allegations of sex abuse and first degree rape.
The guilty verdicts left the British socialite - a second paedophile the royal is now known to have befriended - facing up to 65 years in jail after being found to have procured, groomed and trafficked girls for sex for Epstein abuse.
The jurors' decision has sparked fear in the Duke of York's legal team given the burden of proof in a criminal case is far higher than that needed in a civil case, like the one Andrew is facing.
Legal experts in the States point to how OJ Simpson was cleared criminally of Nicole Brown's death but was found guilty in a private case brought by her family.
Crimes in America must generally be proved "beyond a reasonable doubt", whereas civil cases are proved by lower standards of proof such as "the preponderance of the evidence".
A sexual assault lawsuit brought against Britain's Prince Andrew is expected to go to trial before a New York jury towards the end of next year, a US judge said 3 November, 2021.
Despite their concerns, the royal's lawyers maintain Maxwell's New York trial was "disastrous" for his accuser Virginia Giuffre, who the prosecution refused to call despite being Jeffrey Epstein's long time teen 'sex slave'.
More telling, his legal team believe, is testimony provided during the disgraced socialite's criminal trial they think has left the lawsuit "seriously, if not fatally, weakened".
During the Brit's case, one of her four victims testified to how she was introduced to Andrew's billionaire sex offender friend, Epstein.
The woman, known in court as 'Carolyn', revealed that it was not the Brit who recruited her but Giuffre.
U.S. marshalls (not seen) block Ghislaine Maxwell from speaking with her sister Isabel during jury deliberations in the trial of
Already, in a controversial effort to prove the royal's innocence, the Duke's attorneys have portrayed his rape accuser as an alleged criminal who worked to procure underage "slutty girls" for Epstein.
Now, following the conviction of Maxwell, they are mulling bringing 'Carolyn' back to court along with other victims of the late Wall Street financier to show Giuffre was involved in bringing him girls to abuse.
"Andrew's US team immediately seized upon Carolyn's testimony," said a legal source.
"They believe she holds a smoking gun to any possible role Virginia played in Epstein's pyramid scheme of abuse.
"Andrew's lawyers have convinced him that if he is to stand any chance of preventing her case from going to court, they need to fight with fire and that nothing should be off-limits.
"They believe Carolyn's evidence seriously, if not fatality, weakened the case her faces."
Carolyn, who used her first name, was the third accuser to testify in Maxwell's New York trial.
She told how the Brit organised sexualised messages with Epstein, starting when she was 14.
But as she took the stand, Carolyn said it was Giuffre who introduced her to Epstein and Maxwell at his Palm Beach mansion in the early 2000s. Her then-boyfriend knew Giuffre, which was how they met.
"Virginia asked me if I wanted to come make money," Carolyn said in court, later testifying Giuffre was 18 at the time.
"Did Virginia tell you what you had to do to make that money?" prosecutor Maurene Comey asked.
"Not right away," Carolyn said.
In her lawsuit against the Duke, Giuffre claims she was sex trafficked to Andrew on three occasions by Epstein, the first time when she was 17 in London.
The Prince, a close pal of Maxwell, has consistently and vehemently denied her claims.
In seeking to turn the tables on Giuffre, his US lawyer Andrew Brettler claims she was involved in the "wilful recruitment and trafficking of young girls for sexual abuse".
The duke's accuser Virginia Giuffre has claimed Andrew played a guessing game about her age when they first met and compared her to his daughters
The court papers quote Crystal Figueroa, the sister of one of Giuffre's ex-boyfriends, who claims Andrew's accuser asked her for help.
"[Giuffre] would say to me, 'Do you know any girls who are kind of slutty?'" Crystal said.
Brettler's court filing adds: "It is a striking feature of this case that while lurid allegations are made against Prince Andrew by Giuffre, the only party to this claim whose conduct has involved the wilful recruitment and trafficking of young girls for sexual abuse is Giuffre herself, including while she was an adult."
Carolyn may not be the only Maxwell prosecution witness used by the US Government to convict Maxwell.
They are also considering calling Juan Alessi, Epstein's former butler at his Palm Beach mansion in Florida.
The 72-year-old has previously spoken about Andrew once telling the Mirror/Express/Star he never saw the Duke with Giuffre.
In a previous civil case, Mr Alessi swore on oath how he set up massage tables for the Prince daily during an extended stay in the early noughties.
"Prince Andrew spent weeks with us," he said "[He would sleep] in the main room, the main guest bedroom. That was the blue room."
Asked whether the royal frequently had massages, Mr Alessi said: "I would say daily massages.
"I can't remember if he had more than one [a day], but I think it was just a massage for him. We set up the tables."
He later told the Mirror he remembered Andrew well, although never witnessed him take part in any of the sexual impropriety claimed against the royal.
"I met Prince Andrew twice at the house of Epstein," he said.
"The only thing I can say about him was that he was a complete gentleman. He was a nice guy. I never see him with girls. I never see him with Virginia Roberts (now Giuffre).
"I never saw him naked or actually having the massage. If he had a massage, like I say in my deposition, everything was upstairs behind closed doors."
Andrew's team have also centred upon why Giuffre, now 38, was not called by the prosecution during the Maxwell trial, given her knowledge of Epstein and his British 'madam'.
Judge Alison Nathan was told she was "available" to give evidence, yet neither side called the mum-of-three as a witness.
The prosecution did not explain why it had not done so, although Andrew's team believe they feared inconsistencies that have emerged over the years in her well-publicised story might not have been helpful.
Since instructing Hollywood lawyer Brettler, the Duke, 61, has taken a much more aggressive approach to have Giuffre's case against him dismissed.
Giuffre has used New York's Child Victims Act (CVA) that allowed those abused to sue their attackers.
She is pursuing the Duke for unspecified damages, alleging he sexually abused her on three separate occasions in 2001 when she was 17.
Giuffre claims she was trafficked to London, where she was forced to sleep with the Duke while she was a 'teen sex slave' of his then friend, Epstein.
In 2019, New York lawmakers introduced a "look-back window" in the Child Victims Act that raised the deadline to 55 years of age, giving victims of decades-old abuse two years to file civil claims by August 14, 2021.
Mum-of-three Giuffre filed the lawsuit on August 9, five days before the window closed.
In her lawsuit, she says of the royal: "Prince Andrew's actions constitute sexual offences as defined in New York Penal Law Article 130, including but not limited to sexual misconduct as defined in Article 130.20, rape in the third degree as defined in Article 130.25, rape in the first degree as defined in Article 130.35."
This week, the Duke made a further attempt to have the case dismissed, arguing as Giuffre lives in Australia and he in the UK, the US has no jurisdiction over both parties.
It came after the Prince earlier this month launched another aggressive legal bid to have the lawsuit thrown out, calling it "unintelligible" and deliberately vague.
The royal went further in his motion to have the case dismissed, arguing the law that allowed her to sue in America was "unconstitutional".
His legal team argued he is prevented from being sued under a 2009 financial deal Giuffre made with Jeffrey Epstein, which barred her from pursuing the financier's associates.
Ghislaine Maxwell's bid to undermine her accusers as expert discredits recall ability
In an 11-page document, Andrew attacked Giuffre's claims he raped and sexually abused her after she was forced to sleep with him by the billionaire paedophile.
The Duke has "absolutely and categorically" denied her allegations.
Epstein, 66, committed suicide in August 2019 while in jail. He was arrested a month earlier and charged with child sex offences.
Judge Lewis Kaplan will hear arguments on the motion to dismiss Giuffre's case at a hearing on Tuesday 4 January
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