Jeffrey Epstein’s Ex-Lawyer Claims Queen ‘Pressured’ Prince Andrew into Making a ‘Terrible Mistake’

"Had he fought the case, he'd have won," claimed Jeffrey Epstein's former lawyer Alan Dershowitz referring to the sexual assault case against Prince Andrew filed by Virginia Giuffre, the victim of the disgraced financier. The Duke of York paid multi-million pounds to Giuffre who accused the royalty of sexually abusing her being one of Epstein's clients. 

However, according to Dershowitz, Andrew was "pressurized" to not fight Giuffre in the court by his late mother Queen Elizabeth II. "I think he made a terrible mistake. I suspect he was pressured by his mother to make that mistake," the lawyer who worked for Epstein from 2008 told Times Radio in January. He believed that the case "would've been dismissed" on many grounds had Andrew chosen to fight, per The Independent. 

Giuffre sued the Duke for sexually assaulting her on three occasions when she was barely 17 years old. Though the royal maintained his innocence, he did reach an out-of-court settlement and paid an undisclosed sum to Epstein's victim. Her attorney wrote a letter to US judge Lewis A Kaplan, saying, "The parties will file a stipulated dismissal upon Ms Giuffre's receipt of the settlement," and in addition, Andrew would make a "substantial donation to Ms Giuffre's charity in support of victims' rights," per BBC. 

The statement further clarified that Andrew "never intended to malign Ms Giuffre's character" while acknowledging she suffered as an "established victim of abuse and as a result of unfair public attacks." He also expressed regret for his past association with sex offended Epstein and pledged to "fight against the evils of sex trafficking, and by supporting its victims." 

While that quieted down the media frenzy at the time, Dershowitz noted that people don't often settle the case because they are guilty but they "don't want to admit other things" they have done. He added that he feels "sorry for Prince Andrew" as Giuffre "collected millions and millions of dollars" from him. The case gained renewed attention after a US judge ordered the release of the documents related to the defamation suit brought by Giuffre against Epstein's partner Ghislaine Maxwell. Dershowitz's name appeared over 130 times in those documents as Giuffre also accused him of having sex with her but revoked the lawsuit, citing, she "may have made a mistake," per New York Post.

"The reason I was ready to fight was because I led a completely clean life," claimed Dershowitz. "Ask me anything you want about my sex life and the answer will always be the same: my wife, my wife, my wife." 

However, despite settling the case, Andrew's image has been badly tarnished, especially because of his association with the convicted paedophile and convicted child trafficker Epstein. Though in a 2019 interview with BBC Newsnight, the royal said that he had no memory of either meeting or engaging in sexual acts with Giuffre, it'd be with him for as long as he live.