A hearing in a complaint alleging sexual assault against Prince Andrew has been scheduled for January 4, 2022, by a federal judge in New York.
The scheduling order was granted by U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan a day after he stated that a trial would most likely take place between September and December of 2022 due to COVID-19 protocols still in use at courthouses.
At the January meeting, Andrew’s attorneys are expected to request that the lawsuit be dismissed.
Virginia Roberts Giuffre claims that when she was a minor, Ghislaine Maxwell, an associate of Jeffrey Epstein, encouraged her to have sex with the Duke of York.
Giuffre filed a lawsuit against Prince Andrew in August for undisclosed damages.
Andrew’s counsel claimed in a move to dismiss filed last Friday that Giuffre initiated a “baseless litigation” to obtain “another paycheck” at his cost.
“Virginia Giuffre may well be a victim of sexual abuse at the hands of Jeffrey Epstein, and nothing can excuse, nor fully capture, the abhorrence and gravity of Epstein’s monstrous behavior against Giuffre, if so,” Andrew’s lawyers wrote.
“However, and without diminishing the harm suffered as a results of Epstein’s alleged misconduct, Prince Andrew never sexually abused or assaulted Giuffre. He unequivocally denies Giuffre’s false allegations against him,” the motion continued.
Andrew has not been charged criminally with any misconduct.
Maxwell’s trial is scheduled to begin on November 29 on four counts of conspiring to “entice minors to travel to engage in criminal sex acts,” as well as two counts of surgery. She has kept her innocence.
The Hill has reached out to Andrew and Giuffre’s attorneys for comment.
