Epstein’s ex-lawyer Alan Dershowitz claims Prince Andrew was ‘pressured by his mother’ to make the ‘terrible mistake’ of paying millions to settle a sex abuse lawsuit with Virginia Giuffre and that he ‘didn’t settle the case’ would have won’ if it had gone to trial

Jeffrey Epstein’s former lawyer Alan Dershowitz has claimed that Prince Andrew made a ‘terrible mistake’ by paying millions to settle a civil sexual assault case with Virginia Giuffre and that he ‘would have won’ if it had gone to trial had come.

Dershowitz, a former professor at Harvard Law School, was previously accused of sexual abuse by Ms. Giuffre before she withdrew all her claims against him. He had denied the accusation for a long time.

In 2022, Prince Andrew settled a lawsuit out of court with Giuffre for an estimated £12 million after she claimed they had sex three times when she was a teenager. The Duke of York has always denied even meeting her.

Dershowitz told Times Radio today: ‘I think he has made a terrible mistake. I suspect his mother pressured him to make that mistake.

“If he had fought that case, I believe he would have won, I believe the case would have been dismissed for a variety of reasons, but he didn’t want to make a statement, or the people around him didn’t want to. He had to make a statement, so he settled the case.

Alan Dershowitz, a former Harvard Law School professor, was previously accused of sexual abuse by Ms. Giuffre before she withdrew all her claims against him

‘You often settle cases, not because you are guilty of what you are accused of, but because you do not want to admit to other things you have done.’

He added: “I feel sorry for Prince Andrew for this reason, assuming everything they say about him is correct, the woman who accused him was of legal age.

“She apparently bragged about it to her friends, and she raised millions and millions of dollars for that, so yeah, I feel sorry for him.”

The age of consent in Great Britain is 16. In Florida this is 18 years and in New York 17 years.

Ms Giuffre had claimed Epstein trafficked her to Dershowitz between 2000 and 2002, but he denied her claim.

In 2022, she withdrew the accusation, saying she was “very young” and in a “very stressful and traumatic environment” when she was around Epstein, leading her to misidentify Mr Dershowitz.

Ms. Giuffre dropped a defamation lawsuit she filed against Mr. Dershowitz in 2019 without making any financial payments to either party.

It comes amid claims in the latest batch of unsealed court documents that Andrew was among a string of public figures secretly recorded having sex by Epstein.

Sarah Ransome, who gave a victim impact statement ahead of the conviction of British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell for sex trafficking, appeared to write a letter claiming Andrew, Richard Branson and Bill Clinton had been filmed by the pedophile financier.

The extracts were flagged by a firm representing Mr Dershowitz to show that Ms Ransome is ‘manifestly not credible’. A representative for Mr. Branson called the claims “baseless and baseless.”

In 2022, Prince Andrew settled a lawsuit out of court with Giuffre for an estimated £12 million

Sarah Ransome (pictured) appeared to claim that Andrew was one of three public figures filmed by Epstein having sex

The newly released documents also include a claim that the bath in which Prince Andrew was accused of sexually assaulting Ms Giuffre when she was 17 was ‘too small’. for a man of Prince Andrew’s stature who can enjoy a bath, let alone sex.’

Ms Giuffre, who was trafficked for sex by Epstein, previously said Andrew sexually abused her at Ghislaine Maxwell’s London home. She told BBC Panorama in 2019: ‘There was a bath and it started there and then led to the bedroom.’

She added: ‘It didn’t take very long, the whole procedure. It was disgusting. He wasn’t mean or anything, but he got up, said, ‘Thanks,’ and walked out.”

The Duke has strongly denied the allegations, which continued to make headlines last week following the release of a series of court documents relating to a 2015 defamation case.

Maxwell’s lawyer Philip Barden said in his 2017 statement released on Monday: ‘She (Ms Giuffre) claimed she had sex with Prince Andrew and that the sex took place in what can only be described as a very small bath, too small for a man. of Prince Andrew’s stature to enjoy a bath, let alone sex.’

He said Ms Giuffre’s “story”, which alleged Andrew had sex with her, “created a fueling frenzy for the press”, and called on the media to “stop publishing”, saying they ‘had to pay higher damages for ignoring my clear warning’. ‘ as they continued.

Maxwell, who has since been jailed for sex trafficking of young girls for Epstein, is also believed to have previously argued that the bath – reportedly a standard 6-by-6-foot bath and enclosed by walls on three sides – was too small for sex.

Ms Giuffre told Panorama that she went to Tramp nightclub in London with Andrew and that he was “the most horrible dancer I have ever seen in my life” and “his sweat was raining… pretty much everywhere.”

Andrew claimed in his disastrous Newsnight interview that he had a medical condition in 2001 after being given an overdose of adrenaline when shot at during the Falklands War, which meant he didn’t sweat.

He said the alleged meeting with Ms Giuffre in 2001 did not take place and that he spent the day with his daughter, Princess Beatrice, and took her to Pizza Express in Woking for a party.