In a recent interview with British newspaper The Telegraph, America’s great attorney, David Boies, said that his client, Virginia Guiffre’s lawsuit against the Duke of York, Prince Andrew is more painful to Queen Elizabeth II than it is for her son. “This has got to be any mother’s nightmare. And to have it play out so publicly because of Prince Andrew’s position is particularly unfortunate. Because it must be of a magnitude that is far worse for her,” said Boies, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/01/28/virginia-roberts-giuffres-lawyer-will-accept-settlement-holds/.
In Aug. 2021, Giuffre filed a Civil Lawsuit in Federal court in New York alleging that Prince Andrew sexually abused her three times when she was 17, at different residences of Jeffrey Epstein. Guiffre was introduced to Epstein and Andrew by Ghislaine Maxwell, who was found guilty in Dec. 2021 of five counts of conspiracy to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts.
What is most interesting in this case is that usually a person of Prince Andrew’s fame has the best legal representation that money can buy. But in this case, Guiffre clearly has the advantage with David Boies at her side.
Earlier this month, (Jan. 18), Boies argued before the U.S Supreme Court on behalf of his clients in a dispute over ownership of a painting stolen by the Nazis in 1939. His clients over the past five decades include former Vice-President Al Gore, the U.S. Goverment in their case against Microsoft, and his work to oppose a same-sex marriage ban in California.
Over the past few months, Boies, who lives in Westchester and has law offices in Armonk, (Boies Schiller Flexner https://www.bsfllp.com/), has publicly commented on the strength of his clients case against the Prince, and the foolish legal strategy taken by the Duke of York and his attorneys.
Boies has said repeatedly that the strategy of “Deny, deny, deny,” and attempts to “Shame, shame, shame-or attempt to shame, I should say,” did not work for Maxwell and will not work for Prince Andrew.
“This was Maxwell’s playbook and it’s now Prince Andrew’s playbook,” Boies said in The Telegraph Interview by Celia Walden., “Blanket denials coupled with attacks on the victim are simply not a very credible defense. Particularly in view of all the evidence we have against him. If we didn’t have the photographs, if we didn’t have other people identifying him, that would be one thing.”
The photograph of a 17-year old Giuffre with Prince Andrew and with Maxwell in the background, is what Boies is referencing, and is the most damaging piece of evidence that Andew has yet to explain.
On Jan. 12 Judge Lewis Kaplan denied Prince Andrew’s attorneys motion to dismiss and ruled that the case will move forward.
On Jan. 26, Andrew’s attorneys filed papers demanding a trial by jury and denying the allegations made by Giuffre. “Prince Andrew hereby demands a trial by jury on all causes of action asserted in the Complaint,” writes his lawyer Andrew Brettler.
Now that the case is proceeding along the usual steps of Federal court procedure, the next major event will be a deposition of Prince Andrew, under oath and taking questions from David Boies, who has been called, “the Michelangelo of deposition-taking.”
“Well, we’re looking forward to confronting Prince Andrew with his denials and attempts to blame Ms Giuffre for his own abuse, both at the deposition and the trial,”
“But an unfortunate fact for him is that if you say these things when you’re filing papers, it becomes really hard to sustain that under cross-examination. And when you can’t sustain those broad denials, you’re not just back to ground zero, you’re behind, because you’ve lost your credibility,” Boies told The Telegraph.
Virginia Giuffre posted on Twitter, “I’m glad I will have the chance to continue to expose the truth & I am deeply grateful to my extraordinary legal team. My goal has always been to show that the rich and powerful are not above the law & must be held accountable. I do not walk this path alone, but alongside countless other survivors of sexual abuse & trafficking.”
