Virginia Giuffre, who accused Britain’s Prince Andrew and different influential males of sexually exploiting her as a youngster trafficked by financier Jeffrey Epstein, has died. She was 41.
Giuffre died by suicide Friday at her farm in Western Australia, her publicist confirmed.
“Virginia was a fierce warrior within the struggle in opposition to sexual abuse and intercourse trafficking. She was the sunshine that lifted so many survivors,” her household mentioned in a press release. “Regardless of all of the adversity she confronted in her life, she shone so shiny. She will probably be missed past measure.”
Her publicist Dini von Mueffling described Giuffre as “deeply loving, smart and humorous.”
“She adored her youngsters and lots of animals. She was all the time extra involved with me than with herself,” von Mueffling wrote in a press release. “I’ll miss her past phrases. It was the privilege of a lifetime to characterize her.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story consists of dialogue of suicide. When you or somebody wants assist, the nationwide suicide and disaster lifeline in Australia is obtainable by calling 13 11 14. Within the U.S., it’s accessible by calling or texting 988. There may be additionally a web-based chat at 988lifeline.org
The American-born Giuffre, who lived in Australia for years, turned an advocate for intercourse trafficking survivors after rising as a central determine in Epstein’s extended downfall.
The rich, well-connected New York cash supervisor killed himself in August 2019 whereas awaiting trial on U.S. federal intercourse trafficking fees involving dozens of teenage ladies and younger girls, some as younger as 14. The costs got here 14 years after police in Palm Seashore, Florida, first started investigating allegations that he sexually abused underage ladies who have been employed to offer him massages.
Giuffre got here ahead publicly after the preliminary investigation led to an 18-month Florida jail time period for Epstein, who made a secret deal to keep away from federal prosecution by pleading responsible as an alternative to comparatively minor state-level fees of soliciting prostitution. He was launched in 2009.
In subsequent lawsuits, Giuffre mentioned she was a teenage spa attendant at Mar-a-Lago — President Donald Trump’s Palm Seashore membership — when she was approached in 2000 by Epstein’s girlfriend and later worker, Ghislaine Maxwell.
Giuffre mentioned Maxwell employed her as a masseuse for Epstein, however the couple successfully made her a sexual servant, pressuring her into gratifying not solely Epstein however his buddies and associates. Giuffre mentioned she was flown all over the world for assignations with males together with Prince Andrew whereas she was 17 and 18.
The boys denied it and assailed Giuffre’s credibility. She acknowledged altering some key particulars of her account, together with the age at which she first met Epstein.
However many components of her story have been supported by paperwork, witness testimony and pictures — together with one in all her and Andrew, along with his his arm round her naked midriff, in Maxwell’s London townhouse.
Giuffre mentioned in one in all her lawsuits that she had intercourse with the royal thrice: in London throughout her 2001 journey, at Epstein’s New York mansion when she was 17 and within the Virgin Islands when she was 18.
“Ghislaine mentioned, ‘I would like you to do for him what you do for Epstein,’” Giuffre informed NBC Information’ “Dateline” in September 2019.
Andrew categorically rejected Giuffre’s allegations and mentioned he did not recall having met her.
His denials blew up in his face throughout a November 2019 BBC interview. Viewers noticed a prince who proffered curious rebuttals — reminiscent of disputing Giuffre’s recollection of sweaty dancing by saying he was medically incapable of perspiring — and confirmed no empathy for the ladies who mentioned Epstein abused them.
Inside days of the interview, Andrew stepped down from his royal duties. He settled with Giuffre in 2022 for an undisclosed sum, agreeing to make a “substantial donation” to her survivors’ group. An announcement filed in court docket mentioned that the prince acknowledged Epstein was a intercourse trafficker and Giuffre “a longtime sufferer of abuse.”
She additionally filed, and in at the least some instances settled, lawsuits in opposition to Epstein and others related to him. In a single case, she dropped her claims in opposition to a outstanding U.S. legal professional, saying she might need erred in figuring out him as one of many males to whom Epstein provided her.
Epstein’s suicide put an finish to his accusers’ hopes of holding him criminally accountable.
Maxwell was convicted in 2021 on federal intercourse trafficking and conspiracy fees and was sentenced to twenty years in jail. She mentioned she wasn’t responsible for Epstein’s abuse.
Prosecutors elected to not embody Giuffre’s allegations within the Maxwell case, however Giuffre later informed the court docket that the British socialite had “opened the door to hell.”
Giuffre, born Virginia Roberts, informed interviewers that her childhood was shattered when she was sexually abused as a grade-schooler by a person her household knew. She later ran away from house and endured extra abuse, she mentioned.
She mentioned she met her now-husband in 2002 whereas taking therapeutic massage coaching in Thailand at Epstein’s behest. She married, moved to Australia and had a household.
Giuffre based an advocacy charity, SOAR, in 2015.
Giuffre separated from her husband and kids this 12 months. She had been charged with breaching a household violence restraining order over an incident in February, and was set to apepar in court docket in June within the metropolis of Perth, the place her estranged husband and kids dwell.
She had but to enter a plea to the cost. A conviction would have carried a possible most sentence of two years in jail.
Giuffre was hospitalized after a severe accident, her publicist mentioned final month. She didn’t reply questions on the time concerning the date, location, nature or different specifics of the accident and concerning the accuracy of an Instagram publish that appeared to come back from Giuffre. The publish mentioned she had been in a automotive that was hit by a faculty bus and her prognosis was dire.
She is survived by her three youngsters, whom the assertion described because the “mild of her life.”
Sigrid McCawley, an legal professional for Giuffre, mentioned in a press release, “Her braveness pushed me to struggle tougher, and her energy was awe-inspiring. The world has misplaced a tremendous human being as we speak. Relaxation in peace, my candy angel.”
The AP doesn’t determine individuals who say they have been victims of sexual assault until they’ve come ahead publicly.
This story was initially featured on Fortune.com
