image source,Reuters
Virginia Ufrey, who has decided to take civil action against Prince Andrew.
Virginia Giuffre says she was a victim of sex trafficking and abuse by Jeffrey Epstein and his powerful friends as a teenager.
She also put herself on the cusp of one of the world‘s most high-profile legal battles after deciding to file a civil lawsuit against Prince Andrew.
Prince Andrew has consistently denied the allegations of sexual assault by Yufri. But attempts by his lawyers to have the case dismissed early have failed, and the civil trial is expected to begin in New York this fall.
Here’s some of what we know about Yufri.
“Childhood deprived”
Uuffy was born in California in 1983 under the surname of Virginia Roberts. Her family later moved to Florida.
Yufri said her “childhood was quickly taken away” when she was sexually assaulted by a family friend when she was seven.
“I was traumatized at a young age and I was trying to escape,” she told the BBC’s “Wide Angle” programme in 2019.
In the ensuing childhood, she moved through various foster families. By the age of 14, she was living on the streets. Describing that life, Ufrey said there was “almost nothing but hunger and pain and more abuse”.
By 2000, she had met British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell as she tried to rebuild her life.
Virginia Ufrey was interviewed by the BBC’s “Wide Angle” in 2019.
At the time, Yufri was working as a locker room attendant at former U.S. President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach. She said Maxwell offered her the opportunity to interview with a massage training therapist.
Yufri said she ran to her father, who worked on the Mar-a-Lago tennis courts, and told him, “You wouldn’t believe it, Dad,” she recalls.
Ufrey said Dad knew she was trying to improve her life, which is why Dad helped her find a job there.
meet Epstein
When Yufri arrived at Epstein’s Palm Beach home, Yufri said Epstein lay there naked, and Maxwell instructed her how to massage him.
Yufri said they would chat with her during the massage and ask her about her personal situation.
Yufri told the BBC that they seemed to be very nice people, so he developed a sense of trust in them. She told them about her previous hardships – how to run away from home; how to be sexually assaulted and physically tortured.
Yufri told the BBC that was probably the worst thing she could tell her at the time because it showed them how vulnerable she was.
Uuffy said the job interview she was looking forward to soon became the start of years of sexual assault.
Maxwell was convicted by a jury in December 2021 on five counts, including recruiting and trafficking underage girls for Epstein’s sexual assault, and is awaiting sentencing.
Although Yuffy’s name was mentioned several times in court, she was not one of the four female witnesses in the Maxwell trial. Maxwell denies Uuffy’s allegations of sexual assault.
In 2015, Ufrey filed a defamation lawsuit against Maxwell after Maxwell accused him of lying, a case that has since been settled.
Charges against Prince Andrew
Ms. Ufrey said she was also taken around the world in a private jet during the time she was sexually assaulted by Epstein, and ended up being “enjoyed” by his powerful friends “like a plate of fruit”. .
In 2001, Yufri, then 17, was brought to London by Epstein and introduced to Prince Andrew. Then there is the now famous photo taken that night. In the photo, Prince Andrew puts his arms around Yufri’s waist, while Maxwell smiles in the background.
image source,Virginia Roberts
Prince Andrew put his arms around Ms Ufrey’s waist while Maxwell smiled in the background.
After going to the nightclub, Ms Ufrey said Maxwell told her “I have to do for Andrew what I did for Geoffrey”.
“It was a very scary time in my life… I’m not chained, but these powerful people are my chains,” Ms Ufrey told the BBC.
Ms Ufrey alleges in the civil case that Prince Andrew sexually assaulted her three times, once at Maxwell’s London home that night; island home.
Prince Andrew is the second son of the Queen of England. He told the BBC’s Newsnight in 2019 that he had no recollection of ever meeting Ms. Youfrey, and said “no happened before”.
get away
Ms. Ufrey told the Miami Herald that by 2003 Epstein had lost interest in her because she was too old for him.
She said she persuaded the wealthy financier to pay her to train as a true professional masseuse. Epstein arranged for her to take classes in Thailand, but expected she would bring back a Thai girl he had arranged to come to the United States.
But Ms Ufrey met a man during the trip and fell in love, and the two were married 10 days later. She then moved to Australia with him and began to have children.
Ms Yuffy now lives in a large house on the Perth coast with her husband and three children.
She founded a nonprofit called Speak Out, Act, Reclaim (“Speak Out, Act, Take Power Back”, SOAR), which aims to “educate and advocate for victims of trafficking.”
After the Maxwell ruling last month, Ms Ufrey told New York magazine “it’s definitely not over”.
“There are many more people involved,” she said.