LONDON (AP) — Prince Andrew wasn’t on trial within the Ghislaine Maxwell intercourse trafficking case, however her conviction is unhealthy information for the person who’s ninth in line to the British throne.
With the conclusion of the Maxwell case, consideration will now flip to a U.S. civil swimsuit during which the plaintiff alleges Maxwell and long-time boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein took her to London, New York and the U.S. Virgin Islands to have intercourse with Andrew when she was underage.
READ MORE: Epstein accuser sues Prince Andrew, citing sexual assault when she was 17
Andrew denies the allegations, however Wednesday’s verdict reveals that at the least one American jury was prepared to consider the younger ladies trafficked by Epstein and Maxwell in a prison case, the place the usual of proof is increased than in civil instances.
“To the extent there’s overlap of proof with respect to Prince Andrew’s case, it actually doesn’t bode nicely,” mentioned Bradley Simon, a former U.S. federal prosecutor who now works as a protection lawyer in advanced civil instances. “However, as I mentioned, each case hinges by itself particular info and the judges will at all times instruct the jury on that.”
Maxwell was convicted Wednesday of intercourse trafficking and conspiracy expenses after a monthlong trial in New York.
Whereas U.S. prison instances have to be proved past an inexpensive doubt, civil defendants could be ordered to pay monetary damages if they’re discovered accountable primarily based on a preponderance of the proof.
The decision is problematic for Andrew as a result of he has lengthy been associates with Maxwell, daughter of the late rags-to-riches media tycoon Robert Maxwell. Even after Epstein was charged with intercourse crimes, Andrew did not distance himself from her.
These hyperlinks have already diminished the prince’s standing.
Andrew was compelled to surrender his duties as a working member of the royal household after a disastrous 2019 interview with the BBC that solely elevated public concern about his ties to Epstein and Maxwell. The prince was extensively criticized for his clarification of why he maintained contact with Epstein after the financier was accused of sexual misconduct and for failing to indicate empathy for Epstein’s victims.
Though the Maxwell trial didn’t supply any sensational new allegations about Andrew, it as soon as once more reminds individuals in regards to the sordid allegations and weakens his standing with the general public, mentioned Chris Scott of Slateford, a London legislation agency that focuses on reputational points.
“It simply provides credibility to the accounts of individuals,” Scott instructed The Related Press. “You’ve got a prison courtroom discovering now within the U.S. supporting that there was the trafficking happening. In a way, it turns into a lot more durable for individuals to run the angle that that is all made up whenever you do have that credibility increase. So I believe that that might be very problematic for him.”
The civil swimsuit towards Andrew was filed final August by Virginia Giuffre, who says she was 17 when she was flown to London to have intercourse with Andrew at Maxwell’s home in Belgravia, an upscale neighborhood that’s dwelling to many international embassies and rich expatriates. Different encounters with Andrew occurred at Epstein’s houses in Manhattan and the U.S. Virgin Islands, based on her lawsuit.
Giuffre, who wasn’t a part of the prison case, has described Maxwell as a “Mary Poppins” determine who made younger women really feel comfy as they had been lured into Epstein’s internet.
It was at Maxwell’s dwelling in London {that a} picture of Andrew together with his arm round Giuffre’s waist is alleged to have been taken — a picture that has lengthy been central to Giuffre’s allegations. Within the BBC interview, Andrew prompt the picture had been faked.
“I’ve no recollection of ever assembly this girl,” he mentioned. “None by any means.”
Given the excessive stakes for Andrew, one query surrounding the civil swimsuit is whether or not it is going to ever get to trial. Gloria Allred, who represents quite a lot of Epstein’s victims, instructed the BBC she expects the prince’s attorneys to file a collection of procedural challenges to attempt to derail the case.
This technique has already been on show.
Andrew initially denied that he had been legally served with courtroom papers notifying him of the lawsuit. Then in October, his legal professionals requested Choose Lewis A. Kaplan to throw out the swimsuit, saying the prince by no means sexually abused Giuffre and that they believed she sued Andrew “to attain one other payday at his expense and on the expense of these closest to him.” Final week, they mounted one other problem, arguing that Giuffre’s lawsuit needs to be thrown out as a result of she not lives within the U.S.
Andrew met Maxwell whereas she was finding out historical past on the College of Oxford within the early Eighties.
Like her formidable and well-connected father, Ghislaine Maxwell turned a grasp networker, constructing an extended record of contacts on the earth of wealth and energy during which she grew up.
After graduating, she labored for the household publishing empire in a wide range of roles. In 1991, on the age of 29, she turned her father’s U.S. emissary after he purchased the New York Each day Information amid efforts to compete with fellow media tycoon — and New York Publish proprietor — Rupert Murdoch.
Robert Maxwell died later that yr when he fell off his yacht — the Girl Ghislaine — within the Canary Islands, an occasion some noticed as an accident and others a suicide. Buyers quickly found that his wealth was an phantasm: Maxwell had diverted a whole lot of hundreds of thousands of kilos from his corporations’ pension funds to prop up his publishing empire.
Quickly after her father’s dying, Ghislaine Maxwell was photographed sitting subsequent to Epstein throughout a memorial occasion on the Plaza Resort in Manhattan.
Maxwell introduced star energy to her relationship with Epstein, and the 2 had been quickly attending events with the likes of Invoice Clinton and Donald Trump. Andrew would later invite Maxwell and Epstein to Windsor Citadel and Sandringham, Queen Elizabeth II’s nation property.
Ian Maxwell mentioned Thursday that the household nonetheless believes his sister is harmless and can assist efforts to enchantment her conviction.
“We’re very upset with the decision,” the household mentioned in an announcement on Wednesday. “We’ve got already began the enchantment tonight, and we consider that she is going to in the end be vindicated.”
Andrew has lately sought to distance himself from Epstein, who killed himself in 2019 whereas awaiting trial on intercourse trafficking expenses.
Andrew instructed the BBC that he noticed Epstein a most thrice a yr and generally stayed at one in all his houses when he was within the U.S.
The prince mentioned he stopped assembly with Epstein in 2006 after he turned conscious of a sexual abuse investigation that ultimately led to the financier serving 13 months in jail. Andrew mentioned he had one final assembly with Epstein in December 2010 to inform him they couldn’t stay involved.
“It will be a substantial stretch to say that he was a really, very shut pal,” Andrew mentioned.
