Duke of York to face Giuffre lawyers at ‘neutral’ venue
Andrew’s legal team complain alleged victim is failing to commit to date for her own deposition
THE Duke of York will give a deposition to lawyers for his accuser on March 10 at a “neutral” location in London, The Sunday Telegraph understands.
The Duke will be forced to make a statement under oath to attorneys representing Virginia Roberts Giuffre who will be flying in from the US to interview him in person.
Sources with knowledge of the case said that both sides agreed on the date after a lengthy back-and-forth over scheduling issues.
Ms Giuffre is suing the Duke in New York over alleged sexual assault and battery in a civil case.
She alleges that she was trafficked as a teenager to the Duke through convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, a friend of the Duke’s from Oxford, and was subjected to unwanted sexual encounters with Andrew in London, New York and on Epstein’s private island in the Caribbean.
David Boies and Sigrid McCawley, of Boies Schiller Flexner, will first question the Duke – in a session that is expected to last around two days – before interviewing Shukri Walker, a woman who is alleged to have seen the Duke and Ms Giuffre together at a nightclub 20 years ago, and Robert Ashton Olney, who was a royal equerry.
Mr Boies, 80, a skilled interviewer with a reputation as the “greatest deposition-taker” in modern American justice, has said he is looking forward to looking the Duke in the eye.
The Duke, who was stripped of his military titles and royal honorifics after US district judge Lewis Kaplan last month ruled to allow the case to go to trial, will be asked about his movements around the time of the three alleged assaults in 2001. In a filing with the US district court in Manhattan, the Duke, 61, admitted to meeting Epstein in or around 1999, but denied Ms Giuffre’s claim of sexual misconduct. He is also expected to face questions about his ties to Maxwell, who was convicted in December of luring underage victims to be abused by Epstein.
Last Monday, Judge Kaplan signed four requests to courts in the UK and in Australia, where Ms Giuffre and her family live, asking for assistance in securing testimony.
In Australia, the requests were to facilitate the taking of testimony of Ms Giuffre’s husband, Robert, and her psychologist, Judith Lightfoot.
The 38-year-old alleged victim could be allowed to conduct her deposition via video feed because of pandemicrelated travel difficulties.
A source close to the Duke expressed frustration on Friday night that despite complying with the legal process, Ms Giuffre had not confirmed any details for her own deposition.
The source said: “We agreed to voluntarily produce the Duke for a deposition on March 10. Despite repeated requests, Ms Giuffre still hasn’t committed to a date or location for her deposition.”
The Duke is being prepared for his interview by his UK-based legal team and advisers.
His disastrous performance on BBC’s Newsnight in November 2019 has prompted fears that he will not perform well under pressure.
John Burke, an American lawyer working at Legis Chambers in London, said the Duke’s lawyers “should be worried” about the deposition process as he had already, very publicly, set out his own narrative and if he deviated from it, could face a perjury charge.
“You are under oath,” he said. “That person can ask you anything they want and you remain subject to the pains and penalties of perjury.
“It’s not a process designed for people like Prince Andrew because if [the Newsnight interview] is how he behaves in a controlled environment, his lawyer should worry about what he would do in this environment. They can’t stop it, they can’t unplug the light for the camera. You can only register an objection you can’t actually prevent the question from being asked. He cannot plead the Fifth or give no-comment answers.”