Andrew’s accuser sued by victim of Epstein for £15m
PRINCE Andrew’s rape accuser Virginia Giuffre is being sued for £15million by a fellow victim of paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
American artist Rina Oh, 31, has filed a defamation lawsuit against Ms Giuffre, 38, in the New York court where the royal’s case is being heard.
Ms Oh claims mum-of-three Ms Guiffre has repeatedly defamed and slandered her by saying she was involved in the recruitment of girls for Epstein and was not one of the monster’s victims.
The lawsuit states: “Defendant (Giuffre) knew or should have known that, at all relevant times, Plaintiff (Oh) was a young victim of Epstein and not a co-conspirator of Epstein or a part of his inner circle of criminals.”
Tweets
Ms Oh cites several tweets on Ms Giuffre’s account.
One stated: “Ladies & Gentlemen meet Rina who now is pleading innocence since there’s a $VCF$ (victim’s compensation fund) she has decided to come out as a victim, when on the record she was #Epstein’s GF & was rewarded with $$ in trade for victims – real victims.”
The tweet added: “May karma be upheld and justice be done.”
Another message described Ms Oh as a “Jeffrey Epstein ‘recruiter’” and “a deranged woman” who should be “in jail”.
It added: “Rina – woman to woman – now that I am a woman, U disgust me.”
And another post on Ms Guiffre’s account refers to 2000 to 2002 as the years in which Ms Oh “procured & partook in the abuse of minors with #Epstein”.
It goes on to ask the artist: “Did he pay for that too? Your (sic) no survivor, your (sic) an oxygen thief.A virus on humanity.”
Ms Oh has demanded the case be heard by a jury.
And she states she wants at least $20million (£15million) in “compensatory” and “punitive” damages.
Ms Giuffre has not so far commented on Ms Oh’s allegations. The case comes after Prince Andrew’s lawyer’s last week accused Ms Giuffre of recruiting girls for sex.
She is suing the Duke of York after claiming she was trafficked by Epstein to have sex with the royal three times in 2001. She was 17 at the time and considered a minor under US law. Ms Giuffre claims this happened in London, New York and on billionaire financier Epstein’s private Caribbean island, Little St James.
Prince Andrew, 61, has always unequivocally denied the accusations. Yesterday Judge Lewis Kaplan anticipated the case would go to trial in September next year at the earliest.
At a pre-trial hearing, lawyers for Ms Giuffre and the prince both said they would seek to depose between eight and 12 people to give evidence.
David Boies, for Ms Giuffre, said there were two people in the UK who he wished to speak with under oath, but did not name any individuals.
Dismiss
The Duke’s lawyer,Andrew Brettler, also withheld the names of those he is seeking to depose, while mentioning Ms Giuffre was being sued by a victim of Epstein.
Last week, Andrew’s lawyers filed a motion to dismiss Ms Giuffre’s lawsuit, claiming sensationalism had “prevailed over the truth”.
The motion included accusations that Ms Giuffre “willingly” helped to recruit victims of Epstein’s sex ring.
They also quoted the sister of one of Ms Giuffre’s exes, who has claimed: “[Virginia] would say, ‘Do you know any girls who are kind of slutty?’”
And they argued: “While lurid allegations are made against Prince Andrew by Giuffre, the only party to this claim whose conduct has involved the wilful recruitment and trafficking of young girls for sexual abuse is Giuffre herself.”
Convicted sex offender Epstein was found dead in a New York jail in 2019, where the 66-year-old was awaiting trial for sex trafficking charges.
His girlfriend, British socialite Ghislane Maxwell, 59, is in federal detention in Brooklyn, also awaiting trial for sex trafficking.