Prince Andrew’s accuser Virginia Giuffre said she was paid $15,000 by Jeffrey Epstein to have sex with the royal when she was 17, court documents have revealed.
The legal papers are among the latest batch released relating to Ms Giuffre’s civil defamation claim against Epstein’s ex-girlfriend and long-time associate Ghislaine Maxwell, which was filed in 2015 and settled two years later.
In a deposition in 2015, Ms Giuffre was asked by lawyers for legal giant Alan Dershowitz about the occasion when she claims to have spent time with the Duke of York in 2001.
She was asked: “Were you paid 10 to $15,000 by or on behalf of Jeffrey Epstein for having sex with Prince Andrew?”
Ms Giuffre responded: “Yes, I did receive $15,000. I don’t know what equivalent that is to pounds. I received it in American dollars.”
Andrew has strenuously denied any wrongdoing and claimed he never met Ms Giuffre, who was trafficked by Epstein.
She was then asked if she paid taxes on the money to which she replied “no”.
It is not known which of the three occasions – in London, New York or Epstein’s private Caribbean island – she was referring to when she claimed to have had sex with the royal.
The duke paid millions of pounds to settle a separate civil case with Ms Giuffre, who accused him of sexually assaulting her on three occasions, including in a bath in Maxwell’s London home.
Also in her deposition, Ms Giuffre described how she was trafficked to the south of France by Epstein and Maxwell to a world leader who was a “prince”.
She told the lawyers she did not know his name, but added: “He did speak foreign tongue, he spoke English as well, but I’m not too sure where he was from…I was introduced to him as a prince.”
US paedophile financier Epstein was also interviewed under oath in Ms Giuffre’s civil defamation claim against Maxwell.
In his deposition, which is also released as part of the latest batch of unsealed papers, Epstein was questioned by Ms Giuffre’s lawyer over whether he and Maxwell told Ms Giuffre to have sex with Andrew in 2001 and if the information gathered as part of the legal action “has the potential to affect the reputation” of the Duke of York.
Ms Giuffre’s counsel Paul Cassell asked Epstein: “In fact, it would be a fair assessment of all the circumstances surrounding this situation to say that you forced Virginia to have sex with Prince Andrew?”
After Epstein declined to answer, the lawyer continued: “What would have happened to Virginia if she had refused to have sex with Prince Andrew?”
Following another refusal to answer the question, Mr Cassell then asked Epstein: “Shortly after Prince Andrew and Virginia had sex, Virginia gave you a full report about the details of the sex, true?”
Mr Cassell also said: “Isn’t it true, sir, that Prince Andrew thanked you for making Virginia available to him for sexual purposes?”
Epstein declined to answer both questions.
On Monday, unsealed documents revealed sex tapes were alleged to have been taken of Andrew, Bill Clinton and Sir Richard Branson by Epstein.
Over five days, 215 documents have been unsealed on the orders of a US judge after the media successfully fought to make the names and papers associated with the case public.
Epstein also refused to answer questions over whether he attempted to blackmail the Duke of York after his alleged sexual encounter with Ms Giuffre.
Questioning Epstein on the alleged blackmail plot, Mr Cassell said: “You had previously instructed Virginia that she had to give you a full report on the details of what men like Prince Andrew did to her so that you would have blackmail material you could use, true?”
He pleaded the fifth amendment, which is the right under the US constitution not to say anything when questioned.
Epstein was also quizzed over what he knew about Andrew’s “sexual preferences”, and on whether Ms Giuffre had “recounted specific behaviour that Prince Andrew requested before sexual intercourse”.
The disgraced financier again declined to answer the questions.
Epstein was found dead in his cell at a federal jail in Manhattan in August 2019 while he awaited trial on sex-trafficking charges. His death was ruled a suicide.
In New York in June 2022, Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison for helping Epstein sexually abuse teenage girls, in what a judge called a “horrific scheme” that inflicted “incalculable” harm on victims.
Maxwell has been detained since July 2020 despite attempts by her defence lawyers to get her released on bail. She has appealed.