Duke of York’s accuser insists she is a US resident
31 December 2021, 04:04
Andrew’s lawyers say she is really living in Australia, where she has resided for all but two of the last 19 years.
Lawyers for the woman who says the Duke of York sexually abused her when she was 17 have insisted that she is a US resident even though Andrew’s lawyers say otherwise.
Virginia Giuffre’s lawyers filed their response to papers earlier this week in which Andrew’s lawyers say she is really living in Australia, where she has resided for all but two of the last 19 years.
Lawyers for the duke said the lawsuit she filed in August in Manhattan federal court in which she claimed the prince sexually abused her on multiple occasions in 2001 should not proceed until it is determined whether she is qualified by residency to file the US lawsuit.
They have already asked a judge to toss out the lawsuit on multiple grounds, saying the duke never sexually assaulted Ms Giuffre.
The duke’s attorney, Andrew Brettler, has called the lawsuit “baseless”.
But in a court filing on Thursday, lawyers for Ms Giuffre called the action by Andrew’s attorneys to temporarily halt progression of the lawsuit toward trial a “transparent attempt to delay discovery into his own documents and testimony”.
They said the duke has claimed he has no documents that would be responsive to the majority of requests by Ms Giuffre’s lawyers, including of any communications with British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell or the late financier Jeffrey Epstein or relating to his trips to Florida, New York or various locations in London.
And they said he has also denied having documents supporting a claim that he has a medical inability to sweat, an alibi he offered in a media interview.
As for their client’s residence, they said her domicile is in Colorado, where her mother resides, and noted that she is registered to vote there. They said those facts and additional evidence establish her Colorado citizenship.
A message seeking comment was sent to the duke’s lawyers.
Maxwell, 60, was convicted on Wednesday of sex trafficking and conspiracy charges after a month-long trial.
Her lawyers had argued that she was made a scapegoat by the US government after Epstein killed himself in a Manhattan federal lockup in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
Maxwell was arrested a year later.
