PRINCE Andrew’s multi-million-pound settlement paid to his sex abuse accuser has been frozen in the wake of her suicide, The Sun can reveal.
The Duke of York reportedly paid Virginia Giuffre around £12 million in an out-of-court settlement in 2022. This payment has now become part of a larger dispute over Giuffre’s substantial estate.
Her estranged husband, Robert Giuffre, remains her next of kin despite the couple’s bitter split after 22 years’ marriage.
But her US-based family are determined to prevent him from getting a single penny and are preparing a legal challenge to contest his claim.
In a statement, they said: “Virginia was able to amass settlements, but through this tragedy, funds and estates can take years to settle.”
Ms Giuffre, 41, was also paid £375,000 by Prince Andrew’s paedophile pal Jeffrey Epstein in a 2009 out-of-court settlement.
She claimed billionaire Epstein sex trafficked her to the Duke of York on three separate occasions — twice when she was 17.
Andrew denied the allegations but paid out to avoid a court battle.
Virginia was found dead at home last month.
Who is Virginia Giuffre?
Virginia Roberts, later known as Virginia Giuffre, is a 41-year-old American-Australian activist and a notable survivor of the sex trafficking activities of Jeffrey Epstein.
She made claims against Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, as well as Brit socialite Ghislaine Maxwell – Jeffrey Epstein’s ex-lover.
Giuffre claimed in legal filings that she was recruited by Ghislaine Maxwell, aged 63 and the daughter of the disgraced magnate Robert Maxwell, to serve as a “sex slave” for Epstein when she was a teenager.
She released a manuscript just hours before Epstein’s death, which added to more than 2,000 documents of a lawsuit pending against the former financier and his pals.
The legal documents were released in a defamation case involving Giuffre, who has claimed in court documents that Prince Andrew slept with her three times.
In 2019, Virginia Roberts claimed that she had sex with Prince Andrew in a toilet when she was 17, after a night where he had allegedly been plying her with vodka in a posh London club.
On February 15, 2022, it was announced that Prince Andrew settled the lawsuit – sparing him a humiliating court battle.
