Virginia Giuffre’s multi-million-pound Prince Andrew payout remains in jeopardy as judge rules case against her can go ahead despite her suicide(Image: Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg via Getty Images)A judge has ruled that the case jeopardising Virginia Giuffre’s multi-million-pound Prince Andrew payout is to go ahead despite her suicide.
In April, the Mirror revealed how just days before her death, the Duke of York’s alleged sexual abuse victim was “extremely distressed” after learning she could face losing her millions handed to her in an out-of-court settlement with the royal. The threat came as she was sued for defamation. Ms Giuffre, who died on April 25 in Western Australia, was being taken to court by artist Rina Oh for falsely labelling her as Epstein’s girlfriend and one of his recruiters.
Now, a judge has ordered that the £7.5 million suit is to be passed on to Ms Giuffre’s estate. It could mean the mother-of-three’s children could stand to lose out on their inheritance. The bitter legal war between the two women had rumbled on since 2021, with the Mirror told that Giuffre had become “anxious” in the weeks leading up to her suicide, knowing her legal problems were not going away.
Before her death, Virginia Giuffre received a multi-million-pound payout from Prince Andrew to settle her sexual abuse lawsuit against him in New York. The Duke vehemently denied any wrongdoing(Image: PA)In legal papers, Oh claims Giuffre “maliciously” defamed her by repeatedly branding her Epstein’s “girlfriend” and alleging she helped lure young girls into the paedophile financier’s network. Giuffre, a central figure in exposing Prince Andrew’s paedophile pal’s crimes, claimed on social media posts, podcast interviews, and even her memoir Billionaire’s Playboy Club that Oh had physically and sexually abused her – accusations the artist vehemently denies.
One tweet from 2020 read: “Rina – if you read this, I hope you live in shame for the rest of your life… the physical & mental scars you left me with should be enough to put your a** in jail.” In another, Giuffre claimed: “I have a six-inch scar on my left leg from her cutting me.”
Oh, who has maintained she was a victim herself and was never a recruiter for Epstein, insists the comments have wrecked her life and reputation, leaving her with “humiliation, shame, mental anguish and anxiety”. “The damage caused has been immense,” her legal team said in court filings. “She [Giuffre] weaponised her platform to discredit and defame another survivor for personal gain.”
Oh’s suit was initially seen as a potential bombshell for Prince Andrew’s defence after Giuffre sued him in a civil court in 2021, alleging he sexually abused her when she was 17 – a claim he strenuously denied. The royal’s legal team seized on the lawsuit with the Duke of York’s lawyer, Andrew Brettler, telling a judge it could yield key witnesses and cast doubt on Giuffre’s credibility.
Artist Rina Oh has sued Virginia Giuffre for defamation(Image: @rinaohartist/Instagram)However, the case never went to trial as the royal paid her a reported £12 million in an out-of-court settlement to avoid the lawsuit going to a civil trial. But Oh’s case against Giuffre did not die with her. Under New York law, a defendant’s death does not halt civil litigation, instead, it can transfer liability to their estate.
Oh has alleged Giuffre sexually assaulted her in 2001 while Epstein looked on. In an interview with the New York Post, she said: “I went into the massage room and [Giuffre] touched me without my consent; she sexually abused me.” She added: “I was standing there, frozen like a deer. I did not move. I was in shock. I felt mortified and was uncomfortable.”
Legal documents, lodged in New York as part of the case, allege that on another occasion Giuffre “and other females sexually assaulted [Oh] while Epstein watched”.
Giuffre had filed a countersuit, arguing her comments were protected free speech under the First Amendment and insisting they were part of broader conversations about Epstein and his network of abusers. Yet her attempts to get the case dismissed were repeatedly rejected.
Just three weeks before her death, the New York State Appellate Court upheld Oh’s right to pursue one of her two defamation suits. A source close to Giuffre told the Mirror: “She was deeply distressed about it. It cast a shadow over everything, even while she was trying to focus on her life and family.”
Jeffrey Epstein died by suicide in August 2019 after taking his own life while being held in jail ahead of trial(Image: Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Depa)Giuffre rose to global prominence after going public with her abuse allegations against Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell and Prince Andrew. Her testimony was central to the wave of investigations that eventually brought down Epstein’s powerful network. She also received compensation from Epstein’s victims’ fund and a defamation payout from Maxwell.
This week, it was announced that the FBI were ending its investigation into Epstein and that no further charges would be brought.