Before her death, Virginia Giuffre was very distressed and worried about potentially losing millions in a legal battle with another victim of Jeffrey Epstein.
Ms Giuffre was being sued by artist Rina Oh for falsely describing her as a girlfriend of Epstein and one of the convicted sex offender’s recruiters.
The £7.5million lawsuit will now pass on to Ms Giuffre’s estate following her death by suicide on April 25.
She, at 41, had reportedly received a substantial sum in an out-of-court settlement from Prince Andrew. She had accused him of sexually assaulting her at the age of 17 when Epstein trafficked her to London.
It was reported that he paid her around $12million in February 2022, a figure which has since been disputed.Â
Sources close to Ms Giuffre have reportedly said that she feared losing her wealth in the weeks leading up to her death.
They also said that the mother-of-three had become depressed over the collapse of her marriage and losing her teenage children to her husband.Â
A source close to Giuffre revealed to the Mirror that in the weeks leading up to her death, she was in a state of extreme distress. She felt like all the progress she had worked so hard for was slipping away.
Ms Giuffre was being sued by artist Rina Oh (pictured) for falsely describing her as a girlfriend of Epstein and one of the convicted sex offender’s recruiters
Virginia Giuffre, one of the public faces and advocates for the victims of historical paedophile and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, died by suicide last month. She was 41 years oldÂ
Virginia Giuffre claimed she was sexually abused by Prince Andrew at the behest of Epstein’s associate, jailed British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, when she was just 17
The source added that the distress she felt compounded ‘with the years of abuse she suffered at the hands of Epstein.’
As well as claims about the disgraced financier, tweets made under Ms Giuffre’s name accusations of physical assault against Ms Oh, who maintains she was also a victim of Epstein.
Ms Oh has strongly denied Ms Giuffre’s claims, with her lawyer stating in a court filing: ‘Considering the high profile nature of the Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell and Prince Andrew story, [Giuffre] knew that accusing [Oh], a fellow victim, of such horrible things, would maximise the spread and harm and damage to [Oh].’
The filing added: ‘[Giuffre] has maliciously reiterated and republished these defamations and slanders in prior and subsequent tweets and interviews on podcasts, TV and for magazines, as well as in her memoirs entitled Billionaire’s Playboy Club.Â
‘These defamations and slanders by Defendant are causing [Oh] great harm.’
Prince Andrew’s legal team was reportedly set to use Ms Oh’s lawsuit to attack Ms Giuffre after she sued the royal for sex abuse in 2021.
He has strongly denied the allegations, and Ms Giuffre received an out-of-court settlement in February 2022.
The payout figure, which has never been disclosed, may become clear as her estate is bequeathed to her estranged husband and three children.
It comes amid reports that video footage taken by Epstein which could show Ms Giuffre with the Prince may be released in the US.
The FBI has been reviewing ‘tens of thousands of videos’ of paedophile Epstein, according to US Attorney-General Pam Bondi.
Epstein died in a New York prison in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking
Meanwhile, legal papers filed by Ms Giuffre prior to her suicide last month outline her belief that US authorities hold footage of her having sex with powerful Epstein associates.
The disgraced financier, who died by suicide while awaiting trial for sex trafficking in 2019, is understood to have had hidden cameras around all his homes.
Federal investigators seized a number of them following his death and the material contained on them is understood to form part of the ‘Epstein Files’.
US President Donald Trump has vowed to make these public, with the White House stating earlier this month that the release of the ‘bulk’ of the files is being worked on.Â
A source told The Sun: ‘Andrew will be sweating over their release. If there’s anything in there that involves him, it would pile more misery and humiliation on him.’
Giuffre was one of the most prominent accusers of Epstein and his former girlfriend Maxwell, claiming the pair kept her as a sex slave as a teen.Â
The 41-year-old took her own life on April 25 at her farmhouse north of Perth, after the ‘toll of abuse… became unbearable’, according to her family.
She had been a leading voice for victims in the Epstein case and became known for her tireless advocacy on behalf of herself and other alleged victims of the millionaire’s sex crimes.
Born in California in 1983, her life was shattered as a grade-schooler when she was sexually abused by a man her family knew.Â
She spent time as a runaway, was shuffled through foster homes and lived on the streets at just 14. She was first trafficked by Miami sex trafficker Ron Eppinger.
Eventually, Giuffre got free of Eppinger reunited with her father Sky, according to The Miami Herald.
At 16, her father was working in maintenance at Mar-a-Lago resort, the private club owned by Donald Trump, and got her a job as a locker room attendant.
It was there she said she met Ghislaine Maxwell, the daughter of Robert Maxwell, a former MP and publisher of several British newspapers.
Ms Giuffre said that Maxwell offered her the opportunity to work as a massage therapist for Epstein.
Virginia Giuffre, with a photo of herself as a teen, when she alleged she was abused by Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell and Prince Andrew, among others
‘They seemed like nice people so I trusted them, and I told them I’d had a really hard time in my life up until then – I’d been a runaway, I’d been sexually abused, physically abused,’ she told the BBC.
‘That was the worst thing I could have told them because now they knew how vulnerable I was.’
Epstein and Maxwell groomed her to sexually service both of them as well as other clients, she said in an interview and a sworn court affidavit.
She claimed in 2011 that she was sex trafficked to Prince Andrew on three occasions by Epstein and Maxwell, the first time being when she was 17.
‘It started with one and it trickled into two and so on and before you know it, I’m being lent out to politicians and academics and royalty,’ she said.
The Duke of York has consistently and vehemently denied her claims, as has convicted sex offender Maxwell, who Giuffre claims acted on Epstein’s behalf. Epstein died in a New York prison in 2019.Â
President Trump promised during his campaign to release the Esptein Files, vowing that his White House was committed to ‘transparency’ as he president signed an executive order in January to declassify various documents.
But in February, the ‘first phase’ of the release shared little new information about the case.Â
The White House said earlier this month that there is ‘no specific timeline’ to release the rest of the files.
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