As we’ve discussed a lot over the past month, the “best” option for Prince Andrew right now is to beg Virginia Giuffre to accept a generous settlement. Prince Charles and Prince William are apparently pressuring Andrew to settle, I would imagine the Queen’s courtiers are doing the same, and all of the British “legal commentators” are raising the alert that Andrew definitely, 100% does not want this to go to trial. The question then becomes: would Virginia accept a settlement, given that she’s in a position of strength legally at the moment? There seems to be too much pressure being applied on Giuffre that she should keep fighting and really take it to Andrew and the Windsors. At the same time, I think we do need to make peace with the fact that she likely will settle at some point and, personally, I will not blame her one bit for wanting to move past this chapter. Speaking of all of this and more, Giuffre’s lawyer David Boies gave an interview to the Telegraph (via the Mail) where he spoke about Andrew and potential settlements:

Virginia Roberts will only accept a settlement from Prince Andrew if it ‘holds him to account’, according to her lawyer, as he described the Duke of York’s denial of ever meeting Ms Roberts as ‘incomprehensible’. David Boies, Ms Roberts’ New York attorney, said Ms Roberts does not want a settlement that would allow Andrew to ‘escape’ responsibility due to his ‘position’ and ‘wealth’, according to reports.

Mr Boies told The Telegraph the Queen, nor Prince Andrew’s daughters Beatrice and Eugenie, will not be deposed if the case goes to court, saying it is likely that Andrew’s conversations with his mother will not be used as he ‘probably’ won’t admit to them.

Boies told The Telegraph: ‘What’s important for Virginia is to vindicate herself and the other victims. Not to let someone escape responsibility, just because of their wealth and power. To hold Prince Andrew to account.’

Mr Boies said they would be ‘unlikely’ to settle if the Duke of York, who is fighting the case as a ‘private citizen’ after he lost his royal titles, continued to deny ever meeting Ms Roberts. He added: ‘We tried to avoid litigation; we suggested a mediation. But to say ‘I never met her’ is so contrary to all the other evidence that’s out there.’

If the case does go to court, Mr Boies said while Andrew’s conversations with the Queen ‘could be used’, he said they were unlikely to get at them as they will not depose the Queen and said he was ‘probably not’ going to admit to them. He said: ‘So while those conversations are fair game, on a practical level we’re probably not going to get at them.’

The lawsuit has come during the same year as the Queen’s platinum jubilee, and Mr Boies admitted it does pain him for the lawsuit to be playing out in such a public way because of Andrew’s position. ‘This has got to be any mother’s nightmare,’ he added.

[From The Daily Mail]

Of course Boies could not depose the Queen – that would be a huge legal, constitutional and international catastrophe and it would never even get to that point. Now, I’m surprised that Boies isn’t holding out on deposing Beatrice and Eugenie, especially since Beatrice’s name was used (in Andrew’s Newsnight interview) as a potential alibi on one of the nights he raped Virginia. Notice Boies doesn’t confirm or deny his plans to depose Sarah Ferguson though!! Fergie is going to need to sit for a deposition and it will be CHAOS.

As for what Boies says about not settling… this is Giuffre’s position of strength, that she can say it’s not about the money. It isn’t – it’s about getting an apology or an admission or both. She wants Andrew to acknowledge what he did to her in some way publicly or privately. Which Andrew seems unwilling to do, especially since his defense now is that he barely knew Ghislaine or Jeffrey Epstein and he never met Virginia (even though photos and witness statements contradict his lies).

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, WENN.