Lawyer for Prince Andrew says he’ll fight ‘baseless’ sexual abuse lawsuit

Britain’s Prince Andrew will challenge the jurisdiction of the sexual abuse case against him after his attorney said on Monday that the Duke of York had not received a copy of the lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleges that Prince Andrew pressured Virginia Giuffre to have sex with him when she was 17.

While the prince’s attorney, Andrew Brettler, claims that the case was not properly started, Giuffre’s lawyers say the documents were delivered to the police officer on duty at the gate of his home on Aug. 27, according to The Associated Press. 

Brettler called Giuffre’s claims “baseless, non-viable and potentially unlawful,” the AP reported.

Giuffre alleges that she was one of many young women who were sexually abused by convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Giuffre said that in 2001 she traveled to London with Epstein where she had sex with Prince Andrew. She also asserted that Epstein both paid her $15,000 and arranged for her to have two more “sexual encounters” with the royal in New York and in the U.S. Virgin Islands, according to the AP.

Prince Andrew has repeatedly denied these allegations and has said that he does not recall meeting Giuffre despite being photographed with her at least once, according to the AP.