Duke likely to avoid accuser airing claims at Maxwell perjury trial
Charges against socialite expected to lie on file and spare Andrew further potential embarrassment
THE Duke of York is likely to avoid the potential fallout of a perjury case against Ghislaine Maxwell, legal experts believe.
Maxwell, 60, is facing up to 65 years in prison after being found guilty by a Manhattan jury last Wednesday on five counts of recruiting and trafficking young girls to be sexually abused by the late American financier Jeffrey Epstein.
The socialite had also been facing two counts of perjury related to allegations that during a deposition for a separate civil suit in 2016 she lied under oath about her role in abuse carried out by Epstein.
Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who claims she was forced to have sex with the Duke on three separate occasions, was expected to play a prominent role in any trial of Maxwell on the perjury charges.
That could have resulted in Ms Giuffre’s claims against the Duke being aired in open court, heaping further embarrassment on him and the Royal family. However, legal experts now believe it is unlikely the perjury charges will lead to a new trial.
With Maxwell convicted of the abuse and trafficking charges and facing the rest of her life in jail, it is thought they are likely to be left to lie on file.
Bradley Simon, a former federal prosecutor in New York who now works as a defence attorney specialising in complex civil litigation, said: “They may not proceed with the perjury. Conserving judicial resources is a big consideration.”
The Duke still faces a civil claim for unspecified damages from Ms Giuffre, alleging that he assaulted or raped her on three separate occasions in 2001 when she was 17. He denies her claims.
Added to this is the prospect of Ms Giuffre being set to give a victim impact statement at Maxwell’s forthcoming sentencing hearing.
Maxwell is planning to appeal against the guilty verdicts.
The perjury charges relate to a nowsettled defamation lawsuit brought by Ms Giuffre against her in 2015.
Maxwell is accused of lying about her involvement in Epstein’s heinous acts during two 2016 depositions in which she denied any knowledge of his sex trafficking empire.
In April, US District Judge Alison Nathan ruled that the two perjury counts should be tried separately from the sex trafficking and abuse charges, and split the trial into two.
Mark Stephens, of London law firm
‘There will be no appetite to pursue these charges, not least because perjury is notoriously difficult to prosecute successfully’
Howard Kennedy, said: “There will be no appetite to pursue these charges, not least as perjury is notoriously difficult to prosecute successfully.
“They might try and do some kind of deal based on time served, so they are not erased from the record completely, as she will have been behind bars for 18 months by that point.”
A decision not to pursue a trial which could have seen Ms Giuffre give evidence is relatively good news for the Duke, avoiding the prospect of him being involved in at least one of two potentially highly damaging cases this year.
Ms Giuffre is arguably Epstein’s most high-profile victim, claiming that Maxwell recruited her to become his “sex slave” when she was just 16.
Lawyers, as well as sources close to the Duke, believe her testimony was not included in Maxwell’s trial on abuse and trafficking charges because her story is not “bulletproof ” and her various inconsistencies might not withstand the rigorous scrutiny of the court.
The Duke denies Ms Giuffre’s claims against him and says he has no recollection of meeting her.
Both sides have now submitted detailed discovery requests, listing the evidence they require to build their respective cases.
The Duke has revealed there are no witnesses to corroborate his claim that he was at a Pizza Express on the night he allegedly slept with a teenager trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein.
He also said he had no documents in his possession regarding the “peculiar medical condition” he said prevented him from sweating.
The Pizza Express and sweating disclosures were made during the Duke’s disastrous Newsnight interview in November 2019, which he offered as proof that Ms Giuffre was lying about the night she alleged that she was abused.
On Tuesday, Judge Lewis Kaplan will hear oral arguments on whether to dismiss Ms Giuffre’s lawsuit against the Duke or let it proceed to trial in September.