Virginia Giuffre speaks throughout a information convention outdoors a Manhattan court docket in New York, Aug. 27, 2019.
Bebeto Matthews/AP
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Bebeto Matthews/AP
Virginia Giuffre, who accused Britain’s Prince Andrew and different influential males of sexually exploiting her as an adolescent trafficked by financier Jeffrey Epstein, has died. She was 41.
Giuffre died by suicide Friday at her farm in Western Australia, her publicist confirmed.
“Virginia was a fierce warrior within the struggle in opposition to sexual abuse and intercourse trafficking. She was the sunshine that lifted so many survivors,” her household mentioned in an announcement. “Regardless of all of the adversity she confronted in her life, she shone so shiny. She will probably be missed past measure.”
Her publicist Dini von Mueffling described Giuffre as “deeply loving, smart and humorous.”
“She adored her youngsters and lots of animals. She was all the time extra involved with me than with herself,” von Mueffling wrote in an announcement. “I’ll miss her past phrases. It was the privilege of a lifetime to signify her.”
The American-born Giuffre, who lived in Australia for years, grew to become an advocate for intercourse trafficking survivors after rising as a central determine in Epstein’s extended downfall.
The rich, well-connected New York cash supervisor killed himself in August 2019 whereas awaiting trial on U.S. federal intercourse trafficking costs involving dozens of teenage women and younger ladies, some as younger as 14. The fees got here 14 years after police in Palm Seaside, Florida, first started investigating allegations that he sexually abused underage women who have been employed to present him massages.
Giuffre got here ahead publicly after the preliminary investigation led to an 18-month Florida jail time period for Epstein, who made a secret deal to keep away from federal prosecution by pleading responsible as a substitute to comparatively minor state-level costs of soliciting prostitution. He was launched in 2009.
In subsequent lawsuits, Giuffre mentioned she was a teenage spa attendant at Mar-a-Lago — President Donald Trump’s Palm Seaside membership — when she was approached in 2000 by Epstein’s girlfriend and later worker, Ghislaine Maxwell.
Giuffre mentioned Maxwell employed her as a masseuse for Epstein, however the couple successfully made her a sexual servant, pressuring her into gratifying not solely Epstein however his pals and associates. Giuffre mentioned she was flown world wide for assignations with males together with Prince Andrew whereas she was 17 and 18.
The boys denied it and assailed Giuffre’s credibility. She acknowledged altering some key particulars of her account, together with the age at which she first met Epstein.
However many components of her story have been supported by paperwork, witness testimony and pictures — together with certainly one of her and Andrew, together with his his arm round her naked midriff, in Maxwell’s London townhouse.
Giuffre mentioned in certainly one of her lawsuits that she had intercourse with the royal thrice: in London throughout her 2001 journey, at Epstein’s New York mansion when she was 17 and within the Virgin Islands when she was 18.
“Ghislaine mentioned, ‘I would like you to do for him what you do for Epstein,'” Giuffre informed NBC Information’ “Dateline” in September 2019.
Andrew categorically rejected Giuffre’s allegations and mentioned he did not recall having met her.
His denials blew up in his face throughout a November 2019 BBC interview. Viewers noticed a prince who proffered curious rebuttals — similar to disputing Giuffre’s recollection of sweaty dancing by saying he was medically incapable of perspiring — and confirmed no empathy for the ladies who mentioned Epstein abused them.
Inside days of the interview, Andrew stepped down from his royal duties. He settled with Giuffre in 2022 for an undisclosed sum, agreeing to make a “substantial donation” to her survivors’ group. An announcement filed in court docket mentioned that the prince acknowledged Epstein was a intercourse trafficker and Giuffre “a longtime sufferer of abuse.”
She additionally filed, and in a minimum of some instances settled, lawsuits in opposition to Epstein and others linked to him. In a single case, she dropped her claims in opposition to a distinguished U.S. lawyer, saying she might need erred in figuring out him as one of many males to whom Epstein equipped her.
Epstein’s suicide put an finish to his accusers’ hopes of holding him criminally accountable.
Maxwell was convicted in 2021 on federal intercourse trafficking and conspiracy costs and was sentenced to twenty years in jail. She mentioned she wasn’t accountable for Epstein’s abuse.
Prosecutors elected to not embrace Giuffre’s allegations within the Maxwell case, however Giuffre later informed the court docket that the British socialite had “opened the door to hell.”
Giuffre, born Virginia Roberts, informed interviewers that her childhood was shattered when she was sexually abused as a grade-schooler by a person her household knew. She later ran away from dwelling and endured extra abuse, she mentioned.
She mentioned she met her now-husband in 2002 whereas taking therapeutic massage coaching in Thailand at Epstein’s behest. She married, moved to Australia and had a household.
Giuffre based an advocacy charity, SOAR, in 2015.
Giuffre was hospitalized after a critical accident, her publicist mentioned final month. She did not reply questions on the time concerning the date, location, nature or different specifics of the accident and concerning the accuracy of an Instagram publish that appeared to come back from Giuffre. The publish mentioned she had been in a automotive that was hit by a faculty bus and her prognosis was dire.
She is survived by her three youngsters, whom the assertion described because the “mild of her life.”
Sigrid McCawley, an lawyer for Giuffre, mentioned in an announcement, “Her braveness pushed me to struggle more durable, and her power was awe-inspiring. The world has misplaced an incredible human being right now. Relaxation in peace, my candy angel.”
This story consists of dialogue of suicide. In case you or somebody you realize wants assist, the nationwide suicide and disaster lifeline in Australia is on the market by calling 13 11 14. Within the U.S., it’s out there by calling or texting 988. There may be additionally an internet chat at 988lifeline.org
