The Duke of York “cannot hide behind wealth and palace walls” and must respond to sexual abuse allegations filed in a US court, his accuser’s lawyer told reporters from the BBC.
Prince Andrew should allow a jury to decide what happened, David Boies, the lawyer of Virginia Giuffre, said.
Ms Giuffre has filed a civil case in New York alleging the duke sexually assaulted her when she was 17.
The duke has consistently denied the claims. A spokeswoman for the duke said there was no comment on the civil case.
Mr Boies said Ms Giuffre had “tried every way she can to resolve this short of litigation”.
He added that “at this point litigation is the only way to establish once and for all what the truth is – and litigation is the only way to establish once and for all what Prince Andrew’s evidence actually is”.
The lawyer said people “ignore the courts at your peril” and that “it would be very ill-advised for Prince Andrew to ignore judicial process”.
“If he does, it will be a default judgement against him that will be, in effect, enforced not only in the United States, but in virtually every civilised country in the world,” he said.
The civil proceedings taking place in New York will proceed even if the duke and his legal team do not engage. Prince Andrew does not face the prospect of an extradition hearing as this only applies to criminal charges and not civil cases.
Editor-in-Chief | Carl D. Pearson has been involved in British politics and media from an early age, with the key knowledge of what it takes to run a news organisation for the 21st century. Mr Pearson, as Editor-in-chief, is responsible for supervising the daily tasks of publishing media and content to UNN’s website and various platforms.
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