Prince Andrew could be on the hot seat within two months, to answer questions in a lawsuit brought by a woman who says the British royal had sex with her three times starting when she was 16, the accuser’s lawyer said Wednesday.
Attorney David Boies, told a Manhattan Federal Court judge that he intends to swiftly depose at least eight to 12 people — including the Duke of York — in his client Virginia Giuffre’s sex abuse suit.
“The number depends a little bit on who we can get and the timing of it,” said Boies. “Certainly, obviously, the parties. In addition, there are a number of potential witnesses, I can’t identify them right now.”
A lawyer for Prince Andrew, Andrew Brettler, said he intends to depose the same number of people.
Andrew, 61, who is ninth in line for the British throne, was served the suit on Aug. 27 at the Royal Lodge in Windsor. Boies filed the case under New York’s Child Victims Act on the last day it was possible.
Giuffre says the prince slept with her three times, starting when she was 16-years-old in the early 2000s. Their meetings were coordinated by late fiendish financer Jeffrey Epstein and his accused madam, Ghislaine Maxwell.
She alleges the sex occurred in Epstein’s Upper East Side townhouse, his private island in the Caribbean, and Ghislaine Maxwell’s London townhouse.
The Duke of York moved to dismiss the lawsuit on Friday, saying it was a cash grab.
“Most people could only dream of obtaining the sums of money that Giuffre has secured for herself over the years,” reads the paperwork filed in Manhattan Federal Court by Prince Andrew.
“This presents a compelling motive for Giuffre to continue filing frivolous lawsuits against individuals such as Prince Andrew, whose sullied reputation is only the latest collateral damage of the Epstein scandal.”
Judge Lewis Kaplan said he estimates the trial will be held late next year.