Prince Andrew is in very serious trouble after the New York judge has in fact ordered him to stop running away and finally have the documents of the trial brought by Virginia Roberts Giuffrè, the woman who accuses him of having had sexual relations with she in 2000, when she was 17 and still a minor. Judge Lewis Kaplan ruled that the delivery of the files to the Prince’s Los Angeles attorneys should be considered legal. Andrea claimed that he did not authorize the defenders to receive the cards.
The third son of Queen Elizabeth has hired the lawyer Andrew Brettler, partner of the renowned Lavely & Singer firm, in California, the one who solves every problem of Hollywood actors. Brettler defended, among others, actor Armie Hammer, accused of sexual abuse and fetish cannibalism, director Bryan Singer, accused of pedophilia, actor Danny Masterson, accused of rape, and singer Ryan Adams, accused of harassment by numerous women. According to the famous lawyer, “presumptions of wrongdoing based only on an accusation” have proliferated with the MeToo movement. “Sometimes – he explained -, the best defense is to do nothing, it is to accept the punishment or any decision taken by the court, keep quiet and try to improve yourself as a person. Offer all the necessary apologies, but in private ”. Brettler will work closely with Andrea’s UK legal team, led by Gary Bloxsome of Blackfords.
For the first time, palace sources told the Daily Mirror, the Prince is seriously worried. No matter what, this story will cost him tens of millions of pounds in legal fees. And if Virginia Roberts manages to convince the jury and he is convicted, he will have to pay the woman another hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation. He doesn’t have all this money and his mother certainly won’t be lending it to him. For this reason he has so far tried in every possible way to escape the envoys of his accuser, who even chased him on his horseback rides in Windsor park in order to be able to deliver the documents to him, as foreseen by the Hague convention for the accused residents. abroad. If the notification had not taken place within 120 days, Andrea could have invoked the nullity of the legal action.
A first delivery, which took place on 27 August to the guards of the gate of the Royal Lodge where Andrea resides, was contested by his English lawyers, arguing that the guards were not authorized to receive packages on behalf of the Prince. But the New York judge, in the first hearing that took place a few days ago via teleconference, let everyone know that he intends to look after the substance, and not the legal quibbles. On Thursday he finally ruled that the delivery to the Californian law firm of Andrea is legitimate and that the trial will go on.
The Prince’s American lawyers are also trying to gain access to a financial settlement agreement that Virginia Roberts allegedly signed in 2009 with her former pimp, pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, who committed suicide in prison in 2019. The deal would contain clauses that would prevent Roberts from denounce Andrea or other characters possibly involved in the squalid tour of minors in London, New York and on the Caribbean island of Epstein, also frequented by Bill Gates and Bill Clinton. Last month, Roberts agreed to drop a sexual assault complaint against American lawyer Alan Dershowitz, who asked for access to the text of the agreement to help Andrea get out of trouble. Judge Loretta Preska, of the Manhattan court, has now authorized the Prince to seek information in support of the argument that this agreement does not allow prosecution against him.
By dint of quibbles, the process could take years and could really cost a fortune, putting Andrea on the pavement. It could end as it did in the lawsuit in New York for the sinking of the Andrea Doria: when the lawyers’ fees exceeded the value of the ships, the owners who accused each other decided that it was better to agree with each other.