A woman who says she was sexually trafficked into British Prince Andrew by Jeffrey Epstein accepted $ 500,000 in 2009 to settle his case against the American millionaire and anyone else “who might have been included as a potential accused,” according to one court file unsealed Monday.

Lawyers for the prince say language should prevent Virginia Giuffre from suing Andrew now, even though he was not a party to the original settlement.

The 2009 private legal deal resolved Giuffre’s claims that Epstein had hired her as a teenager to be a sex maid at his estate in Palm Beach, Florida.

Andrew was not named in that lawsuit, but Giuffre alleged in it that Epstein had taken her around the world for sexual encounters with numerous men “including royalty, politicians, academics, businessmen and / or professional and personal acquaintances “.

The unsealed settlement Monday also does not mention Andrew, but contains a single paragraph saying it protects anyone “who could have been included as a potential defendant” from being sued by Giuffre.

Lawyer Andrew Brettler, representing the prince, told a Manhattan federal court judge that the deal should release Andrew “from any alleged liability.”

Lawyer David Boies, who represents Giuffre, said in a statement Monday that language about protecting potential defendants in the settlement between his client and Epstein was “irrelevant” to the prince’s trial in part because the paragraph did not mention the prince and he did not. I do not know.

“He could not have been a ‘potential defendant’ in the case settled against Jeffrey Epstein both because he was outside the jurisdiction of Florida and because the Florida case involved federal claims he was not a part of, ”Boies said.

Boies said he wanted the Epstein-Giuffre deal made public “to refute claims made about it by Prince Andrew’s public relations campaign.”

Giuffre chased the prince in August, claiming that he sexually assaulted her repeatedly in 2001, when she was 17.

Lawyers for the prince say Andrew never abused or sexually assaulted Giuffre and that he “unequivocally denies Giuffre’s false allegations against him”.

They also wrote that Giuffre sued Andrew “to get another salary at his expense and at the expense of those close to him.” Epstein’s abuse of Giuffre does not justify his public campaign against Prince Andrew.

Arguments over the request to dismiss the lawsuit are scheduled for Tuesday.

Recently, lawyers for the prince said Giuffre should not be allowed to sue in the United States because she has lived most of the past two decades in Australia and cannot accurately claim to be a resident of Colorado, where saw his mother.

Judge Lewis A. Kaplan has rejected an attempt by lawyers to halt the progress of the trial and subject Giuffre to a deposition on the question of where she resides.

In late 2019, Prince Andrew told BBC Newsnight that he had never had sex with Giuffre, saying: “That did not happen.”

He said he had “no recollection” of ever meeting her.

The interview was widely criticized by critics who said Andrew seemed insensitive to Epstein’s victims. The prince subsequently retired from royal duties.

A message requesting comment was left with a spokesperson for Giuffre’s lawyers and Brettler.

Epstein, 66, committed suicide in August 2019 while awaiting trial in the United States on sex trafficking charges not involving Andrew.

His former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, 60, was convicted last week in Manhattan on charges of sex trafficking and conspiracy relating to several women after a month-long trial. Giuffre was not among the alleged victims in this case.

Judge Alison J. Nathan, who presided over the trial, asked lawyers for both sides to suggest when a sentencing date should be set and when a trial should be scheduled for perjury charges that have been separated from other charges. against Maxwell.

The Associated Press generally does not identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they choose to come forward publicly, as Giuffre did.

—Larry Neumeister, The Associated Press

Royal Family Trafficking for Sexual Purposes