Giuffre drops sexual abuse case against Dershowitz

PRINCE ANDREW’S accuser, Virginia Giuffre, yesterday dropped a lawsuit against a high-profile lawyer and onetime Donald Trump attorney, saying she may have made a mistake in accusing him of sexually abusing her.

Ms Giuffre agreed to withdraw her defamation suit against Harvard law emeritus Alan Dershowitz, who had counter-sued Ms Giuffre over her allegations that he sexually abused her as a teenager. It is understood no payments were made by either side.

Ms Giuffre claims she was held as a virtual sex slave by Jeffrey Epstein and abused by him, his then girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell, and members of their social circle over a number of years from the age of 17.

She brought the claim against Mr Dershowitz in New York in 2019, claiming emotional distress after he called her a “complete, total liar”.

Mr Dershowitz, who has represented the former president, Jeffrey Epstein, OJ Simpson and a host of other prominent figures in his long legal career, always fiercely denied the accusations.

In a joint statement released by the two yesterday, Ms Giuffre, who now lives in Australia, recognised she “may have made a mistake”.

It included comments from Mr Dershowitz, 84, who commended Ms Giuffre for her “courage” in saying she may have been mistaken.

Mr Dershowitz said in his own statement: “She has suffered much at the hands of Jeffrey Epstein and I commend her work combating the evil of sex trafficking.”