The arrest Thursday of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the disgraced British royal who enjoyed a years-long friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, has renewed public interest in Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who accused both men and others of sexual trafficking her as a minor. Giuffre died by suicide after writing a book about her abuse. For her family, the arrest is one step closer to long-delayed justice.
Giuffre opened the door for other Epstein survivors to publicly speak out
Giuffre emerged as the most prominent and vocal of Epstein’s survivors. Beginning in 2011, Giuffre gave detailed public accounts of her abuse by Epstein, his co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell and others in their circle, beginning when she was 16 years old. Her accounts led to other Epstein survivors coming forward and drummed up public pressure to release information about Epstein, who died by suicide in 2019 while jailed and awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. Among the people she accused of abusing her was the British royal Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, then known as Prince Andrew, the son of Queen Elizabeth II and brother of King Charles III. As detailed in Giuffre’s 2025 memoir, Nobody’s Girl, Giuffre was sent to Mountbatten-Windsor by Epstein and Maxwell, and the then-prince allegedly had sex with her three times, including when she was a minor. A photo of Mountbatten-Windsor with his arm around a young Giuffre and Maxwell in the background has widely circulated online.
Encounters with powerful figures
Giuffre also accused other prominent men of sexually abusing her, including a “well-known prime minister” who she wrote about but did not name in her book. Giuffre initially said that she was also trafficked to attorney and now-retired Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz, who was Epstein’s lawyer and friend during the early 2000s and helped Epstein cut a deal to avoid prosecution in Florida in 2008. She withdrew her allegations against Dershowitz in 2022, saying, “I now recognize I may have made a mistake in identifying Mr. Dershowitz.” Giuffre also discussed meeting other famous and powerful people who did not abuse her. Before being recruited into Epstein’s sex trafficking ring, Giuffre worked at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in 2000; Maxwell recruited her from Mar-a-Lago to work for Epstein, and Trump has at various times said he kicked Epstein out of Mar-a-Lago for being a “creep” and because Epstein “stole” young women who worked at Mar-a-Lago. Giuffre stated that she interacted with Trump a few times and that he never had sex with or flirted with her or with any other girls in her presence. Giuffre also recounted meeting former President Bill Clinton through Epstein, specifying that Clinton did not act inappropriately toward her or anyone else while in her presence.
Legal actions against Epstein, others
In addition to publicly telling her story, Giuffre also went after her alleged abusers in court. In 2009, Epstein paid Giuffre $500,000 to settle a lawsuit she had against him. In 2022, Mountbatten-Windsor settled a separate lawsuit with Giuffre; the amount of that settlement was not publicly disclosed. After Epstein died, Giuffre publicly pushed for his associates, including Maxwell and Mountbatten-Windsor, to be held accountable. “I was recruited at a very young age from Mar-a-Lago and entrapped in a world that I didn’t understand, and I’ve been fighting that very world to this day,” Giuffre said in a 2019 press conference. “I won’t stop fighting, I will never be silenced, until these people are brought to justice.”
Even after her death, Giuffre’s words and advocacy continue to impact discussions about how the Epstein case was handled and how potential Epstein co-conspirators and enablers should be held accountable. With the recent arrest of a member of the British royal family who Giuffre named as one of her abusers, Giuffre’s accounts appear to be leading to legal action against those she said exploited her.
The post Who Is Virginia Giuffre, The Epstein Survivor Who Accused Prince Andrew And Others Of Abuse? appeared first on Blavity.
