How a Ghislaine Maxwell email may have blown Prince Andrew's case against Virginia Giuffre apart
Prince Andrew narrowly escaped a major blow in his sex assault case brought on by Virginia Roberts Giuffre before he settled out of court last night.
A leaked email from Ghislaine Maxwell, the prince's longtime pal who is now a convicted sex trafficker, appeared to verify the authenticity of a notorious picture of the Duke of York smiling while standing with his arm around Giuffre. The photograph, which was reportedly snapped in Maxwell's London residence in 2001, was questioned by Andrew, whose legal team demanded Giuffre turn over the original just this week.
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Prince Andrew's defense had claimed the picture may have been doctored, but an email obtained by the Daily Mail suggested that Maxwell, who appears to be standing behind the prince and his accuser in the photo, believed it was real. The 2015 email shows Maxwell commenting on the photo, "It looks real. I think it is."
MEAWW previously reported how it was claimed that Giuffre had lost the original print of the scandalous image. However, the claim was disputed by her legal team, who said the hard copy was in the FBI's possession and that Giuffre had misplaced a CD containing a copy of the image while moving from Colorado to Sydney, Australia. That said, the photo was billed to be "critical evidence" to support Giuffre's claims of battery and infliction and emotional distress against 61-year-old Andrew, which he vehemently denied. Andrew's lawyers brought on an image expert to analyze the photo. They argued that if Giuffre was unable to produce the original, its copies weren't admissible in court as they could not be properly tested. If they weren't able to verify the photo as proof, it would have put a considerable dent in Giuffre's case.
However, in an email exchange obtained by the Daily Mail, the infamous snap was discussed by Maxwell and Epstein's former lawyer Alan Dershowitz. "Dear G. Do you know whether the photo of Andrew and Virginia is real? You are in the background," Dershowitz wrote in the email dated January 10, 2015. Maxwell responded shortly after, writing, "It looks real. I think it is."
The newspaper noted how the timing of exchange was significant considering Giuffre had claimed just days earlier that she had been forced to have sex with both Andrew and Dershowitz. The allegation was thrown out by a judge who branded it "impertinent". Nonetheless, Andrew panicked as he was seen in emails previously reported by the BBC contacting Maxwell at 5.50 am on January 3, 2015.
"Let me know when we can talk. Got some specific questions to ask you about Virginia Roberts," Andrew wrote.
"Have some info. Call me when you have a moment," Maxwell replied.
It's worth noting that Dershowitz has strongly denied having sex with Giuffre. The alleged victim dropped a battery allegation she filed against the lawyer after he argued that a civil settlement she signed with Epstein in 2009 gave him immunity. That said, Giuffre is currently suing Dershowitz for defamation -- a case he's fighting, according to the Mail.