February will be the two-year anniversary of Prince Andrew settling out of court with Virginia Giuffre. Her civil case against Andrew would have proceeded to trial, and Andrew’s lawyers quickly made the deal with Giuffre as soon as the judge refused to toss the case out. Reportedly, the settlement was eight figures, anywhere between $11-16 million. There might have been a one-year gag order attached, but overall, Virginia was able to negotiate from a place of real strength. It was the same when she got a settlement from Jeffrey Epstein in 2009 (for $500K plus something undisclosed in legal documents) and a settlement from Ghislaine Maxwell in 2017 for an undisclosed amount of money. Virginia has spent decades trying to get justice for herself and Epstein’s other victims, and her journey through the legal bureaucracy is a huge part of the newly unsealed Epstein files. Now we also know that Epstein initially paid the then-teenaged Virginia to sleep with Prince Andrew.
Virginia Giuffre claimed that she was paid thousands of dollars by convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein to have sex with Prince Andrew, according to court documents unsealed in New York City on Tuesday.
Giuffre made the allegation during a videotaped January 2016 deposition in Florida court as part of a lawsuit against former Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz. She spoke as a non-party in a lawsuit filed against Dershowitz, Epstein’s former attorney, by her lawyers Bradley J. Edwards and Paul G. Cassell.
In court documents obtained by PEOPLE, Giuffre was asked if she was “paid 10 to $15,000 by or on behalf of Jeffrey Epstein for having sex with Prince Andrew?” in a time frame identified as 2011.
“Yes, I did receive $15,000. I don’t know what equivalent that is to pounds. I received it in American dollars,” she replied, referring to the difference in British and American currency.
Giuffre was then asked if she paid taxes on the money, and she said no.
“Giuffre was then asked if she paid taxes on the money, and she said no.” Imagine trying to nail a human trafficking victim/survivor on tax fraud. And she was probably only 16 or 17 years old at the time she was “paid” to sleep with Prince Andrew. “Where are your W-2s from when you were being internationally trafficked at the age of 15??” Good lord, no wonder Virginia has been able to run circles around so many of these people. Anyway, once again, good for Virginia. She really has spent decades putting it all on the record and fighting these awful people.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.
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- Virginia Roberts talks about how she was trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein and allegedly had sex with Prince Andrew when she was 17 on 'Panorama, The Prince and the Epstein Scandal'. Broadcast on BBC One,Image: 486024846, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WENN does not claim any ownership including but not limited to Copyright, License in attached material. Fees charged by WENN are for WENN's services only, do not, nor are they intended to, convey to the user any ownership of Copyright, License in material. By publishing this material you expressly agree to indemnify, to hold WENN, its directors, shareholders, employees harmless from any loss, claims, damages, demands, expenses (including legal fees), any causes of action, allegation against WENN arising out of, connected in any way with publication of the material., Model Release: no, Pictured: Virginia Roberts,Virginia Roberts Giuffre, Credit line: – / Wenn / Avalon
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- Virginia Roberts talks about how she was trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein and allegedly had sex with Prince Andrew when she was 17 on 'Panorama, The Prince and the Epstein Scandal'. Broadcast on BBC One,Image: 486024910, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WENN does not claim any ownership including but not limited to Copyright, License in attached material. Fees charged by WENN are for WENN's services only, do not, nor are they intended to, convey to the user any ownership of Copyright, License in material. By publishing this material you expressly agree to indemnify, to hold WENN, its directors, shareholders, employees harmless from any loss, claims, damages, demands, expenses (including legal fees), any causes of action, allegation against WENN arising out of, connected in any way with publication of the material., Model Release: no, Pictured: Virginia Roberts Giuffre,Virginia Roberts, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, Credit line: – / Wenn / Avalon
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- The Duke of York attends the Sunday service at the Royal Chapel of All Saints, Windsor, following the announcement on Friday April 9, of the death of the Duke of Edinburgh at the age of 99. Picture date: Sunday April 11, 2021. Prince Philip, was the longest-serving consort in British history.,Image: 604743186, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon sales@Avalon.red London +44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles +1 310 822 0419 Berlin +49 30 76 212 251 Madrid +34 91 533 42 89, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red / Avalon
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- The Duke of York attends the Sunday service at the Royal Chapel of All Saints at Royal Lodge, Windsor, following the announcement on Friday April 9, of the death of the Duke of Edinburgh at the age of 99. Picture date: Sunday April 11, 2021. Prince Philip, was the longest-serving consort in British history.,Image: 604743222, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon sales@Avalon.red London +44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles +1 310 822 0419 Berlin +49 30 76 212 251 Madrid +34 91 533 42 89, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red / Avalon
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- The Duke of York attends the Sunday service at the Royal Chapel of All Saints at Royal Lodge, Windsor, following the announcement on Friday April 9, of the death of the Duke of Edinburgh at the age of 99. Picture date: Sunday April 11, 2021. Prince Philip, was the longest-serving consort in British history.,Image: 604743229, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon sales@Avalon.red London +44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles +1 310 822 0419 Berlin +49 30 76 212 251 Madrid +34 91 533 42 89, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red / Avalon
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- The Duke of York attends the Sunday service at the Royal Chapel of All Saints at Royal Lodge, Windsor, following the announcement on Friday April 9, of the death of the Duke of Edinburgh at the age of 99. Picture date: Sunday April 11, 2021. Prince Philip, was the longest-serving consort in British history.,Image: 604743237, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon sales@Avalon.red London +44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles +1 310 822 0419 Berlin +49 30 76 212 251 Madrid +34 91 533 42 89, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red / Avalon
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- The Duke of York during a television interview at the Royal Chapel of All Saints, Windsor, following the announcement on Friday April 9, of the death of the Duke of Edinburgh at the age of 99. Picture date: Sunday April 11, 2021. Prince Philip, was the longest-serving consort in British history.,Image: 604743242, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon sales@Avalon.red London +44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles +1 310 822 0419 Berlin +49 30 76 212 251 Madrid +34 91 533 42 89, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red / Avalon
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- Los Angeles, CA – **FILE PHOTOS** Prince Andrew smiling as he stands with his left arm around the waist of a young Virginia Roberts. It is alleged to have been taken in early 2001. Ghislaine Maxwell stands behind. *Editorial Use Only* see Special Instructions. Pictured: Prince Andrew, Virginia Roberts, Ghislaine Maxwell BACKGRID USA 17 NOVEMBER 2019 BYLINE MUST READ: MediaPunch / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
So the non tax paying welfare recipients lawyers wanted to know if she paid taxes on money she received while being trafficked? My god they know no bounds.
Orgy Andy and his ilk are facing reputational damage, but that’s not nearly enough. They—all of them—should do time and be sued into oblivion. End trafficking once and for all, by making it clear the traffickers AND the johns will lose everything in the end.
Do they think being paid to sleep with the perv makes him look good and her look bad? I mean, he’s a sweaty nonce. The least they can do is pay her thousands of dollars.
I really admire Virginia’s strength at still out here looking for justice for herself and other victims and consequences for these predators.
I know that if I was a survivor of such a heinous and dehumanizing crime, I would not be able to get out of bed, let alone spend almost half my life still fighting.
I agree. I really admire her. I can’t imagine the horror of having to live this over and over again with news cycles, interviews, people trying to tear you down. I admire how she fights for the other victims that don’t have her strength.
Me too! She kept fighting, kept talking, kept the light on the crime. Thank goodness or this would all be swept under the rug by now. Hats off, great respect and Thank You, Virginia.
P.s. Al Capone went to jail for tax evasion. Not for being a murderous gangster. Sometimes tax evasion is the best they can do. But in this situation, it’s just a pathetic attempt by an attorney to unnerve her. Shame on him.
Same, I have nothing but respect for her.
They actually do nab sex workers for not paying taxes on their income. Just because it’s illegal doesn’t mean you don’t have to declare it. Of course, being trafficked should make a difference.
They could also have been asking about taxes to see if there was a record of the money and to discredit her as a witness.
This is fascinating!
Do they also nab drug dealers on tax evasion?
And if you’re trying to do the legal thing and declare, wouldn’t that open one up to further legal problems since one’s profession is illegal?
Can you claim social security, etc. for (illegal) sex work, drug dealing, etc.? If not, it further seems nabbing folks for tax evasion is terrible?
(I don’t know if you know the answers to these, but your comment has opened a whole world of curiosity for me, since this just seems so ludicrous! But also on brand for the US government?!)
Wasnt Al Capone eventually convicted on his taxes rather than his violent crimes. This is an ancedote said with tongue firmly in cheek but my accountant friend and her irs husband always joke that as long as you pay your taxes the gov doesn’t care what you do. They will look the other way as long as they keep getting paid. From pop culture and new headlines it seems many violent criminals like traffickers, drug kingpins and mafia types are always hit with multiple tax charges as part larger cases esp when the evidence is less abundant for their violent crimes. The only people that seem to get away with tax crimes are so called “legitimate” rich people and businessman.
@DK The IRS could absolutely get drug dealers on tax evasion if they proved it. You can do any sort of illegal activity but as long as you declare the income & pay your taxes, the IRS will not report you to other law enforcement agencies. The IRS just wants their money–they’re not the police.
As far as social security benefits (other than SSI) go, you can only draw benefits from what you paid into the system from wages subject to federal withholding. So money earned from illegal work would not qualify. Incidentally, I just read an interesting article about sex workers’ tax returns: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/01/05/sex-worker-taxes/
She was underage when it happened, she was 17. Given we know a lot about what Epstein’s underage victims suffered and went through thanks to the Filthy Rich documentary on Netflix, I’m not sure any courtroom would look favorably on a prosecutor going after one of Epstein’s victims for tax fraud. I’m not a lawyer but it would not be a good look and I doubt it would hold up in court.
If you are self-employed you pay both the employer and employer portions of the Social Security tax contributions. So sex-workers who report their own income and pay their social security taxes are eligible for social security benefits. It’s a huge reason why they should report their income, and one that was unfortunately missed in the recent article.
There is no way in hell that a prosecutor would go after an underaged Epstein trafficking victim for criminal tax fraud. Among other things, a prosecutor would have to show a willful intent to evade taxes. How many teenagers would even know that taxes were owed on money they received for sex? Just not happening.
Very good point, @EM. I think the majority don’t report due to fear, but you’re right that they could get the benefits if they filed.
Isn’t this a rehash of old news? I am not the best informed person around but even I know that Epstein paid her.
Other than the overall evil about the whole Jeffery Epstein saga, what also gets me is just that Andrew is such a disgusting liar, and so damn dumb too. I believed Virginia from the get. If it was her plan to lie about this, why would she choose Andrew, and not any number of other royals who had greater visibility in the US? And the idea that he thinks we the public are as impressionable that we would believe his claim that the photographed was doctored, makes me wonder about all the other basic lie they have hoisted on that sleepy island
About Andrew being dumb: I’m beginning to wonder whether Charles’ decision to allow him back into the fold, was borne of Andrew’s attempt to take the case to trial, thinking he has such strong power of persuasion (his BBC interview says otherwise), that he could convince a jury to believe anything. Charles being at least cognizant of how awful that would be for the whole monarchy, negotiated with Andrew to settle, in exchange for what he’s now getting. I have no proof, of course, but it’s just so strange that Charles would succumb to such a risky move. Nobody in the public would miss Andrew if he’s not around; and most of us believe he deserves criminal prosecution, at a minimum, for what he did.
Hm. This is interesting to me. why would Epstein pay her to sleep with Andrew? I don’t think Andrew reimbursed him for that payment. Was this a ploy on Epstein’s part to keep his victims loyal to him? Was this one of his defenses against being accused of trafficking minors – they were paid? Was this a way to give him more control over the men for whom he was providing the girls – “you slept with her, I covered her ‘fee’ so now you owe me? You can pay me back in Balmoral pics.”
I don’t know – this is so gross and disturbing to talk about but it seems Epstein was very deliberate in how he managed his “clients” so I’m wondering if this was part of that?
@Becks1 I thought I remember reading somewhere that Epstein thought Prince Andrew the disgusting was an idiot, but used him to make other powerful connections. He was a nobody in reality, but had his usefulness for Epstein bigger plans.
Yea I think it’s a combo of everything you mentioned, plus I think it was further psychological manipulation of his victims: “you’re not a victim, you’re a businesswoman. I’m not an abuser, I’m giving you a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.” Ugh, I feel nauseous.
It is sort of interesting (also disturbing). The girls recruited for “massages” in Florida & elsewhere were paid $200-$300 per visit. This suggests that larger payments were made for higher profile men. If I had to guess, I’d say there was a sort of hierarchy where certain trusted girls were trafficked to high profile men & paid accordingly. Seems like it was a very structured business of sorts.
He could also pay the victims to manipulate them to stop them from seeking help.Telling them they are prostitutes not victims, nobody will belive them ect..
this is one of the reasons that occurred to me. Virginia wasn’t a victim, she was being paid for a service.* It could have served as a deterrent to any of these girls seeking help or going to the police.
*I’m not saying she’s not a victim, I’m saying that could have been the rationale used by Epstein for paying her.
I’m thinking that Epstein didn’t pay her $15k to give his buddy the prince a good time. I’m thinking he was paying for the opportunity to get a sex tape of the prince for his blackmail collection.
Epstein’s whole purpose (with personal gratification as a side benefit) was to manufacture leverage on powerful people. No one really cares about homosexuality or extramarital affairs anymore. The kind of sexual misconduct that works as blackmail these days is pretty much limited to underage partners. Sex with minors is still a crime and near certain reputational death.
Just like the KGB ran brothels that were wired for sound and video, intelligence work and sex work have gone hand in hand since forever. Madams can be very valuable intel sources. Robert Maxwell (Ghislaine’s dad) was suspected of working for the Mossad before he died “accidentally.” He’d also tried to buy the News of the World and the Sun before Rupert Murdoch! I don’t know whether some larger group was running Epstein or whether he was freelance. Intelligence work often requires dealing with the nastiest of people.
Rumors connect Epstein to Israeli intelligence also
Yuck. He is disgusting. She earned every penny and then some.
Virginia Giuffre is a hero and I am awed by her strength and fortitude. She has stood up for and continues to fight for herself and scores of other survivors against a cabal of the richest most powerful men on earth – the absolute spine of steel that takes! The moral clarity! Absolutely incredible, the patron saint of survivors.
Maybe Epstein paid her so he had a reason to document Andrew’s assault on her.
Her being paid changes nothing. She was a child when she was being trafficked. Pedrew belongs in jail.
I don’t understand this.
I thought Virginia was held hostage.
If she was being paid, why didn’t she leave?
I’m not trying to start anything, I honestly don’t understand.
We tend to think trafficking only means dozens of girls and women chained to radiators in squalid rooms. It’s much more complicated. Here’s a good article to read. Virginia is one of those interviewed.
https://www.adn.com/nation-world/2019/09/22/when-you-are-in-you-cant-get-out-women-describe-how-jeffrey-epstein-controlled-them/
This was insightful BQM, and I’ve never seen that article before. Thanks for sharing.
You understand that Epstein was grooming minors, right? He wasn’t going on web and paying escorts who are adults and can give consent. He was recruiting minors and grooming them for prostitution. That’s literally what he went to jail for. “Epstein pleaded guilty and was convicted in 2008 by a Florida state court of procuring a child for prostitution and of soliciting a prostitute.”
A grooming victim doesn’t automatically see the manipulation after they turn 18. It changes even the victim’s developing brain.
This was coercion–not a hostage situation? Like, Epstein wasn’t holding her for ransom, he was exploiting her against her will. And WTF WOULDN’T she take the money? She is being forced to do this against her will out of fear and intimidation–she should take the effin money.
@janes; if I was being abused and someone handed me 15 thousand in cash I’d be in a plane and out of there. We just don’t understand the mind control and the grooming that goes on.that affects how they respond, so whether I understand it or not is not the issue.
Yes, something to keep in mind with Epstein’s victims is that many of these girls did not have anywhere else to go. Or if they did have a family, the money may have been getting passed to them so they may have wanted the girls to stay there. He was very deliberate in how he chose his victims.
So Virginia got 15k for this and maybe she got other money for sleeping with other men. Did she have a bank account where she could keep that money that Epstein did not have access to? Was she able to save for her eventual escape, or was the money kept with Epstein and Maxwell and she was told she could use it if she asked them?
Grooming and trafficking is a lot more nuanced psychologically than many realize.
I can’t remember if it was an interview for a documentary or an article but basically one day Virginia did take the money and run. I believe she was 19/20 when she was sent to Australia for something/someone specific, met the man who is her husband and within 24 hours of meeting her husband she was spilling her guts and telling him everything. It was he who told Virginia “you can’t ever go back” so she called Jeffery up one day out of the blue (to Jeffery) and said I won’t be coming back, hung up and threw her phone in the ocean.
As a child who was groomed and trafficked, I can say sometimes it does take someone who is practically a stranger to kinda shake you into realizing just how f@#k your situation is. It’s a fine line between what is normal and what you have just gotten used to.
It’s like the Stockholm Syndrome which is a coping mechanism to a captive or abusive situation. People develop positive feelings toward their captors or abusers over time. This condition applies to situations including child abuse, coach-athlete abuse, relationship abuse and sex trafficking.
She wasn’t a hostage. She actually was on payroll; and as an assistant of some sorts, she was paid handsomely, lived in a big country mansion, and travelled luxury-style wherever in the world there was a call for her. She even acknowledged there were times when she thought she was really lucky. That’s how she was lured in: A literal kid (maybe not the savviest but a kid just the same) was promised her Art student dream of inmersing in various cultures without material worries. ‘All she had to do’ was pretending she wasn’t been trafficked, sexually abused and given drugs. Maybe her inmature self didn’t see a lot of difference with regards to girls her age who slept with men for free out of boredom or as reward for being asked out to a nice place. 🤷♀️
“Did you pay taxes on this money?”
“No, fortunately for your client’s dumb azz, I didn’t leave that kind of paper trail.”
These people think they’re so dazzlingly smart, yet every time they open their mouths they sink deeper into the dung heap.
Well, I notice my US tax return form asks me to report all illegal income…as though anyone would? But hey, the USG will come after individuals anywhere in the world for taxes. It’s just American corporations that they can’t be bothered to collect taxes from.
Been trying to give up my US citizenship for years over its deplorable tax policies (I have nothing against paying taxes, but I have a great deal against paying taxes to a country I haven’t lived or worked in for decades and where I have no intention of retiring). That’s a whole other journey.
I wonder how Andrew feels, knowing these girls had to be paid tons of money to “massage” him.
Virginia is BOSS. I hope she takes them all to the cleaner’s.