Virginia Giuffre: Prince Andrew’s accuser found dead - everything we know so far about sex scandal, Ghislaine Maxwell, Duke of York Jeffrey Epstein
The woman who settled a sexual assault lawsuit against Prince Andrew has been found dead at her farm, aged 41.
Virginia Giuffre’s family said in a statement that she was a “fierce warrior in the fight against sexual abuse” but that the “toll of abuse… became unbearable”, the BBC reports.
The statement added: “She was the light that lifted so many survivors. Despite all the adversity she faced in her life, she shone so bright. She will be missed beyond measure.
“Despite all the adversity she faced in her life, she shone so bright. She will be missed beyond measure.”
She is survived by her three children, whom the statement described as the “light of her life.”
Ms Giuffre was one of the most outspoken accusers of convicted sex offenders Jeffrey Epstein and his former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell.
She alleged they trafficked her to the Duke of York when she was 17, a claim which Andrew has denied.
Ms Giuffre is understood to have died at her farm in Western Australia.
Police confirmed emergency services received reports of an unresponsive woman at a property in the Perth suburb of Neergabby on Friday night.
“Police and St John Western Australia attended and provided emergency first aid. Sadly, the 41-year-old woman was declared deceased at the scene,” a police spokeswoman said.
“The death is being investigated by Major Crime detectives; early indication is the death is not suspicious.”
Ms Giuffre’s long-time publicist Dini von Mueffling said her client was “one of the most extraordinary human beings I have ever had the honour to know”.
“Deeply loving, wise, and funny, she was a beacon to other survivors and victims,” Ms von Mueffling said.
“It was the privilege of a lifetime to represent her.”
Sigrid McCawley, a lawyer for Ms Giuffre, said in a statement: “Her courage pushed me to fight harder, and her strength was awe-inspiring.
“The world has lost an amazing human being today. Rest in peace, my sweet angel.”
Ms Giuffre, who was believed to have separated from her husband, was treated in an Australian hospital after a serious accident, her publicist said last month.
She did not answer questions about the date, location, nature or other specifics of the accident and about the accuracy of an Instagram post that appeared from Ms Giuffre in which she said she had been in a car that was hit by a school bus, and her prognosis was dire.
She was rushed to a Perth hospital following the collision on March 24.
In an emotional post on social media, she expressed that she was ready to die.
“I’ve gone into kidney renal failure, they’ve given me four days to live, transferring me to a specialist hospital in urology,” she said.
“I’m ready to go, just not until I see my babies one last time.”
According to reports, a spokesperson for Ms Giuffre said the Instagram post was a mistake and she had meant to share the post to her private Facebook page.
She was charged with breaching a family violence restraining order in Ocean Reef, near Perth, on February 2, Western Australia (WA) Courts said.
Ms Giuffre’s case was first heard in Joondalup Magistrates’ Court in northern Perth on March 14, where she did not enter a plea.
The matter was adjourned to June 11 for a plea hearing, according to Western Australia Courts.
American-born Giuffre has lived in Australia for years and has become an advocate for sex trafficking survivors after emerging as a central figure in the prolonged downfall of disgraced paedophile financier Epstein.
She came forward publicly after the initial investigation ended in an 18-month Florida jail term for Epstein, who made a secret deal and was released in 2009.
In subsequent lawsuits, Mr Giuffre said she was a spa attendant as a teen at Mar-a-Lago — US President Donald Trump’s Palm Beach club — when she was approached in 2000 by Maxwell.
She was hired as a masseuse for Epstein and was flown around the world for meetings with men at Epstein’s behest, including the Duke of York, while she was 17 and 18.
The duke paid millions to settle a civil sexual assault case with Ms Giuffre,. whom he said he had never met.
She sued him for allegedly sexually assaulting her when she was 17 after she was trafficked by paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.
- Last September, disgraced British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell’s appeal against her sex trafficking conviction has been rejected by a US court. The 62-year-old was found guilty in December 2021 of luring young girls to massage rooms for paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein to molest between 1994 and 2004. She was sentenced to 20 years in prison at the federal court in the southern district of New York (SDNY) in June 2022.
Judges on the second circuit in the SDNY upheld her five convictions – including sex trafficking minors, conspiracy to entice a minor to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, and conspiracy to transport a minor with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity.
The court also concluded Maxwell’s sentence was “procedurally reasonable”. Epstein, who was once Maxwell's boyfriend, died by suicide at 66 in 2019 while in a Manhattan jail, five weeks after being arrested on sex trafficking charges.