Prince Andrew Faces Renewed Calls for Police Probe After He Settles Lawsuit

Prince Andrew should be investigated by British police after settling his sexual abuse lawsuit out of court, his biographer has said.

The Duke of York has called time on the bombshell civil litigation by agreeing to pay an undisclosed sum to Virginia Giuffre, who says she was a 17-year-old trafficking victim when she was forced to have sex with him.

London’s Metropolitan Police announced in October that it would not take any further action against the prince, following a review.

However Nigel Cawthorne, Prince Andrew‘s biographer, said the case should now be reviewed by Britain’s Metropolitan Police following the settlement revealed on Tuesday.

The author of Prince Andrew: Epstein, Maxwell and the Palace, told Newsweek: “There should be a police investigation into Prince Andrew,” he said, repeating his earlier calls for such a probe.

“There are a couple of outstanding matters. One is that the U.S. D.O.J. has asked the British Government for their co-operation in interviewing Prince Andrew.

“The other is whether the new commissioner of the Metropolitan Police will investigate this matter.”

London’s police commissioner, Cressida Dick, recently announced she would be standing down from the role following several policing controversies. A replacement has yet to be named.

In January, Scotland Yard outlined three criteria for assessing whether to investigate, which Cawthorne said should now be applied to Giuffre’s allegations against Andrew.

They were that:

• People “knew, or ought to have known that what they were doing was an offence”
• Not investigating “would significantly undermine the legitimacy of the law”
• And that “there was little ambiguity around the absence of any reasonable defence”

Andrew has always strenuously denied allegations Giuffre has made against him.

A court filing on Tuesday confirmed the two sides had settled out of court and would file a dismissal of the case.

It comes about two months before Andrew’s sworn deposition was expected in April, at which Giuffre’s lawyers would have grilled him in detail on his denials.

The court document, seen by Newsweek, read: “Prince Andrew intends to make a substantial donation to Ms. Giuffre’s charity in support of victims’ rights.

“Prince Andrew has never intended to malign Ms. Giuffre’s character, and he accepts that she has suffered both as an established victim of abuse and as a result of unfair public attacks.”

Former Federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani, president of West Coast Trial Lawyers, told Newsweek: “I know how Andrew Brettler does things and the settlement agreement will contain an iron-clad confidentiality provision.

“The parties will only be able to say the matter has resolved and there will be no admission of liability.

“He tried to get the lawsuit dismissed. Then, when the writing was on the wall and it was clear Judge Kaplan was not going to dismiss the case and that if it went to trial it would be publicly very damaging to the prince, he decided to settle.”

He added: “Giuffre realised she made a huge mistake when she settled with Epstein for a mere $500,000 dollars back in 2009, that’s a low number.

“These are seven or eight figure cases. So, a million would be on the low end, very low end in my opinion. If I were representing her, this case would settle for millions of dollars if not $10 million plus.”

Cawthorne said the settlement would cement the Duke’s exclusion from public life in Britain.

He said: “Prince Andrew obviously can’t appear in any public forum because people are going to say what really happened there?”