Prince Andrew accuser's deal with Epstein made public as part of civil suit

NEW YORK - Late financier Jeffrey Epstein's 2009 settlement agreement with Virginia Giuffre was made public on Monday, as part of Giuffre's civil lawsuit accusing Britain's Prince Andrew of sexual abuse.

Giuffre's lawsuit accuses Andrew of forcing her to have sex more than two decades ago when she was under 18 at the London home of former Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, and abusing her at two of Epstein's homes. Giuffre, 38, is seeking unspecified damages in a civil lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court.

Jeffrey Epstein agreed in 2009 to pay $500,000 to a woman who's currently suing Prince Andrew for assaulting her when she was a teenager, according to a previously confidential settlement unsealed on Monday.

The agreement was made public as part of Virginia Giuffre's suit against Andrew, whom she claims was one of several powerful men to whom Epstein "lent" her for sexual abuse.

Giuffre sued Epstein in federal court in Florida in 2009 and reached the confidential pact with him that year.

The nine-page agreement includes a requirement that the amount of the settlement remain confidential. The parties also agreed that the agreement "should not in any way be construed as an admission by Jeffrey Epstein" that he violated any federal or state laws.

The document shows Epstein's notarized signature on Nov. 25, 2009 in Palm Beach, Florida. Giuffre had separately signed the agreement on Nov. 17, 2009, in New South Wales, Australia.

Andrew, 61, has denied Giuffre's assertions and has moved to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing Giuffre is seeking a "payday" from her accusations against Epstein and his associates. The prince has not been accused of criminal wrongdoing.

He argues a confidential agreement Giuffre reached with Epstein, whom she has accused of trafficking her for sex when she was a teenager, shields him from liability. Andrew's lawyer says the deal covers "royalty" and that Epstein intended for it to cover anyone Giuffre might sue. 

Giuffre's civil case against Andrew is still in its early stages. U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan has said a trial could begin between September and December of 2022 if no settlement is reached.

A hearing on Andrew's motion to dismiss the case is scheduled for Tuesday morning.

Andrew gave up many royal duties in November 2019, stating that his association with Epstein had become a "disruption to my family's work." Giuffre's suit is separate from the criminal trial against Maxwell that concluded last week. Maxwell, 60, was convicted of recruiting and grooming girls for Epstein to abuse between 1994 and 2004.

Giuffre's claims did not form the basis of any of the charges Maxwell faced and she did not testify for either side during the three-week criminal trial.

Epstein killed himself in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019 at the age of 66 while awaiting trial on sex abuse charges.