Virginia Giuffre, who accused Britain’s Prince Andrew and different influential males of sexually exploiting her as an adolescent 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 in the fight against sexual abuse and sex trafficking. She was the light that lifted so many survivors,” her household stated in an announcement. “Despite all the adversity she faced in her life, she shone so bright. She will be missed beyond measure.”
Her publicist Dini von Mueffling described Giuffre as “deeply loving, clever and humorous.”
“She adored her children and many animals. She was always more concerned with me than with herself,” von Mueffling wrote in a statement. “I will miss her beyond words. It was the privilege of a lifetime to represent her.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story contains dialogue of suicide. For those who 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 out there by calling or texting 988. There’s additionally an internet 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 costs involving dozens of teenage ladies and younger ladies, some as younger as 14. The costs got here 14 years after police in Palm Seaside, Florida, first started investigating allegations that he sexually abused underage ladies who had been employed to present him massages.
Giuffre got here ahead publicly after the preliminary investigation resulted in an 18-month Florida jail time period for Epstein, who made a secret deal to keep away from federal prosecution by pleading responsible as a substitute to comparatively minor state-level costs of soliciting prostitution. He was launched in 2009.
In subsequent lawsuits, Giuffre stated she was a teenage spa attendant at Mar-a-Lago — President Donald Trump’s Palm Seaside membership — when she was approached in 2000 by Epstein’s girlfriend and later worker, Ghislaine Maxwell.
Giuffre stated 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 associates and associates. Giuffre stated 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 had been supported by paperwork, witness testimony and pictures — together with certainly one of her and Andrew, along with his his arm round her naked midriff, in Maxwell’s London townhouse.
Giuffre stated in certainly one of 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 said, ‘I want you to do for him what you do for Epstein,’” Giuffre advised NBC Information’ “Dateline” in September 2019.
Andrew categorically rejected Giuffre’s allegations and stated 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 — resembling disputing Giuffre’s recollection of sweaty dancing by saying he was medically incapable of perspiring — and confirmed no empathy for the ladies who stated 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. A press release filed in courtroom stated that the prince acknowledged Epstein was a intercourse trafficker and Giuffre “an established victim 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. lawyer, saying she may 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 costs and was sentenced to twenty years in jail. She stated she wasn’t guilty for Epstein’s abuse.
Prosecutors elected to not embody Giuffre’s allegations within the Maxwell case, however Giuffre later advised the courtroom that the British socialite had “opened the door to hell.”
Giuffre, born Virginia Roberts, advised 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 dwelling and endured extra abuse, she stated.
She stated 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 yr. She had been charged with breaching a household violence restraining order over an incident in February, and was set to apepar in courtroom in June within the metropolis of Perth, the place her estranged husband and kids stay.
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 stated 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 return from Giuffre. The publish stated 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 “light of her life.”
Sigrid McCawley, an lawyer for Giuffre, stated in an announcement, “Her courage pushed me to fight harder, and her strength was awe-inspiring. The world has lost an amazing human being today. Rest in peace, my sweet angel.”
The AP doesn’t determine individuals who say they had been victims of sexual assault except they’ve come ahead publicly.
This story was initially featured on Fortune.com
