Prince Andrew Sexual Abuse Lawsuit: Judge rejects release of Secret Settlement

The sexual abuse lawsuit against Prince Andrew which made headlines all over the world; is just days away from its first formal hearing to be held in New York. The circumstances don’t look entirely favorable for the royal prince.

Just days before the first hearing, U.S. district judge Lewis Kaplan rejected Prince Andrew’s lawyers’ plea to release the secret settlement agreement between the filer and the royal.

According to the legal team representing Prince Andrew, this secret settlement agreement would have worked in the favor of their client as it would have absolved him from any kind of liability over the complainant.

Virginia Roberts Giuffre, 38 had filed a lawsuit against the Duke of York last month in which she had accused him of sexually abusing her while she was a minor. She had also made alleged claims that she was raped and sexually assaulted multiple times by Prince Andrew with the help of Jeffrey Epstein. She claimed that she was sex-trafficked to the United Kingdom and was forced to have sex with him at different locations in Britain.

Prince Andrew has strongly denied all such accusations, and the royal palace stood behind him. In the 61 years, the old Duke of York and his legal advisors have profoundly refused to address or make any kind of response to the lawsuit.

But just days before, the legal team of Prince Andrew sent litigator, Andrew Brettler to appear in front of the respected court of Los Angeles on behalf of the Prince and argue over the validity of the lawsuit. Brettler relayed the Prince’s argument to the district judge stating that Prince plans to contest the validity of the alleged lawsuit under The Hague convention and the laws of the United Kingdom.

Andrew Brettler stated, “it’s a baseless, non-viable, potentially unlawful lawsuit filed against the Duke.” He further exclaimed that the settlement agreement will change the dynamics of the case as it will “release the Duke and others from any potential liability.”

So far, Prince Andrew and his legal team have decided not to get engaged with the lawsuit and according to the reports, they will not be participating in the first hearing of the case scheduled for Monday.