Duke’s accuser prepared for legal fight

WASHINGTON • The woman who has accused the Duke of York of having sex with her as a teenager says she is willing to fight a defamation case to prove her story, as she made the claims on television for the first time.

Virginia Roberts Giuffre has made serious allegations about Prince Andrew and his association with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s, warning that she would seek justice by holding Epstein’s associates accountable in the wake of his suicide.

Giuffre, now 36, made the claims in her first broadcast interview along with five other Epstein accusers, throwing down the gauntlet for the prince to pursue legal action.

The Duke has always denied any sexual contact or relationship with Giuffre. “He’s going to keep denying that it ever happened. But he knows the truth and I know the truth,” Giuffre told NBC.

Giuffre says she first met the Duke in London in 2001 at the home of Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend. Giuffre was 17 at the time. She says a notorious picture of the Duke with his arm around her waist was taken during that encounter.

She added: “Unfortunately there’s this horrible law called statute of limitations. My lawyers said the way to get Ghislaine held accountable, the way to get Epstein held accountable, is through them calling me a liar, which I’m not. It’s called a defamation suit.”

It is the first time Giuffre has spoken in depth about the allegations since Epstein was rearrested on fresh sex-trafficking charges involving dozens of underage girls.

In August, a court unsealed documents relating to a 2015 defamation suit filed by Giuffre against Maxwell, which revealed the 57-yearold was accused of playing a key role in procuring young girls for Epstein, which she has always denied.

The next day Epstein was found dead in his prison cell.

Giuffre appeared on NBC’s Dateline along with five other Epstein accusers to demand justice in the aftermath of his death.

The interview was to air Friday night.

Giuffre first made her allegations in a British tabloid in 2011 in which she said Epstein had held her as a sex slave, lending her out to his rich and famous friends — among them the Duke.

All the allegations against the Duke were struck from the court record in 2015 after being described as “immaterial and impertinent” by a judge.

Speaking outside a New York court last month, Giuffre said the Duke “knows what he has done.”

A spokesman for Buckingham Palace declined to comment on the most recent allegations or whether the Duke would consider legal action.

“It is emphatically denied that the Duke of York had any form of sexual contact or relationship with Virginia Roberts (Giuffre).”