GIVE UP PERV PAPERS

Andy’s Epstein bid

A lawyer for Prince Andrew on Monday demanded a copy of a secret 2009 settlement

an accuser struck with late pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein — arguing it would get the disgraced royal off the hook.

The request came at the first hearing in a lawsuit filed by Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who alleges she was 17 when she was “forced to have sexual intercourse with Prince Andrew against her will” at the direction of Epstein and his alleged cohort, Ghislaine Maxwell.

“This is a baseless, nonviable and potentially unlawful lawsuit that plaintiff has filed against the Duke,” Andrew’s attorney, Andrew Brettler, said during the telephone hearing in Manhattan federal court.

Los Angeles-based Brettler said the agreement Giuffre signed “releases the duke and others from any and all potential liability.”

Giuffre’s attorney, David Boies, declined to hand over the sealed settlement. US District Judge Lewis Kaplan said that only the jurist who sealed the sensitive court papers could force their release.

Brettler also argued that the lawsuit was not served in accordance with UK and international laws.

Boies countered that the middle son of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II was properly

served Aug. 27 by Cesar Sepulveda at Andrew’s Royal Lodge home — after numerous attempts to hand over the lawsuit were rebuffed.

In an affidavit, Sepulveda said he had been repeatedly turned away and it seemed “the security staff had already been primed not to allow anyone access onto the property to serve court process and had been instructed not to accept any service.”

Copies of the lawsuit were also e-mailed to Andrew’s Royal Household office and sent to his lawyers by e-mail and FedEx.

Kaplan ordered the parties to return to court Oct. 13 for further arguments.

Boies said in court papers he repeatedly tried to meet with Andrew’s lawyers to “discuss whether a negotiated resolution might be appropriate” rather than take the case to trial. They never replied, he wrote.

Andrew has repeatedly denied Giuffre’s claims. He, his legal team and Buckingham Palace have not responded to the lawsuit.

Epstein hanged himself in his Manhattan federal cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex charges. Maxwell is being held in Brooklyn awaiting trial for allegedly abusing underage girls and recruiting them for Epstein. She has pleaded not guilty.