A victim of Jeffrey Epstein says Prince Andrew bought her vodka at a London club when she was 17 before having sex with her
Prince Andrew, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, and Ghislaine Maxwell. This photo was included in an affidavit in which Giuffre alleged that she was directed to have sex with Andrew. Florida Southern District Court
In a clip from her first on-camera interview, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who has accused Jeffrey Epstein of sex trafficking her, explained how the late financier's close associate Ghislaine Maxwell coerced her into having sex with Prince Andrew of Britain.
Giuffre told NBC News that she was 17 in the widely circulated photo (above) of her with Andrew and Maxwell that was taken next to the bathroom in Maxwell's London residence where the British royal sexually abused her.
Now 35, Giuffre said Maxwell introduced her to Andrew, who accompanied her to a club called Tramp in London and bought her vodka there before sexually abusing her that night.
He sexually abused her two more times, in New York and in the US Virgin Islands, she told NBC News.
Giuffre's allegation that Andrew sexually abused her was detailed in court documents, including a draft of a memoir she wrote, as part of a defamation suit against Maxwell that the socialite settled in 2017.
Virginia Roberts Giuffre is one Jeffrey Epstein's most prominent accusers, having testified that the financier, his ex-girlfriend and alleged "madam" Ghislaine Maxwell, and some of his powerful associates sexually abused her during the years she was sex trafficked by Epstein.
Giuffre spoke on camera for the first time in an interview with NBC News' Savannah Guthrie. In a clip from the segment, which is set to air Friday night and includes interviews with other accusers, Giuffre said Epstein's associate Prince Andrew "was an abuser" and "a participant."
Giuffre said Maxwell, a British socialite who has not been indicted in any ongoing Epstein investigations, first recruited her for the financier's sex-trafficking operation when Giuffre was a teenager working at President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort as a locker-room attendant.
In unsealed court documents, including a defamation suit Giuffre filed against Maxwell that was settled in 2017, Giuffre, now 35, said that Epstein coerced her into performing sexual acts on him while she was a minor for several years and that Epstein, along with Maxwell, directed her to have sex with his powerful connections.
Giuffre says Prince Andrew bought her vodka at a high-end London club when she was 17 before sexually abusing her for the first time
Giuffre told Guthrie that when she was 17 and staying in Maxwell's London residence, she was directed to have sex with the prince.
"The first time in London, I was so young," Giuffre said. "Ghislaine woke me up in the morning and said, 'You're going to meet a prince today.' I didn't know at that point that I was going to be trafficked to that prince.
"And then that night Prince Andrew came to her house in London, and we went out to club Tramp. Prince Andrew got me alcohol. It was in the VIP section. I'm pretty sure it was vodka.
"Prince Andrew was like, 'Let's dance together,' and I was like, 'OK.' And we leave club Tramp, and I hop in the car with Ghislaine and Jeffrey, and Ghislaine said, 'He's coming back to the house, and I want you to do for him what you do for Epstein.' I couldn't believe it."
Giuffre said Andrew abused her that night in a bathroom next to where a widely circulated photo of the two (above) was taken and then in a bedroom in Maxwell's London townhouse.
Giuffre told NBC News that the prince abused her again later, once in Epstein's Manhattan residence and again on his private island in the US Virgin Islands.
"He wasn't rude or anything about it," Giuffre told Guthrie. "He said, you know, 'Thank you,' and some kind of soft sentiments like that, and left. I just couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe that even royalty were involved."
The lawyer David Boies arrives with Giuffre for a hearing in the criminal case against Jeffrey Epstein. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
Giuffre's allegations against Andrew resurfaced over the summer after Epstein was arrested and charged in New York in June with sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking. In August, Epstein killed himself in federal prison. He had pleaded not guilty.
Andrew and Buckingham Palace have "emphatically" denied Giuffre's accusations, telling NBC News and other outlets that the Duke of York never had any sexual contact or any relationship with Giuffre. Maxwell has also denied the accusations against her and has not been charged with a crime.
"He denies that it ever happened, and he's going to keep denying that it ever happened," Giuffre told NBC News. "But he knows the truth, and I know the truth."
Epstein, left, in July 2013 and Andrew in November 2015. Florida Department of Law Enforcement via AP; Chris Jackson/Reuters
Giuffre told NBC News that she's trying to get justice by filing defamation lawsuits. The statute of limitations has expired for her to file other charges, but she can still get her abusers in court if they call her a liar, she said.
"My lawyers said the way to get Ghislaine Maxwell held accountable, the way to get Jeffrey Epstein held accountable, is through them saying I'm a liar, which I'm not," Giuffre said.
In the full NBC News segment, at least five other Epstein accusers are interviewed. In late August, many of Epstein's accusers appeared in court in the Southern District of New York to testify about Epstein's sex-trafficking crimes. Judge Richard Berman said that even though the federal indictment had to be dropped after Epstein's death, the investigations into co-conspirators would continue.
He also said that Epstein's victims deserved their day in court. More than 20 women testified that Epstein abused them — many as minors — and dozens of women have accused Epstein of sexual abuse since his arrest.
"I can relate to pretty much every person sitting here next to me," Giuffre, surrounded by other accusers, said in the NBC News clip.
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