Virginia Giuffre case returns to spotlight after Trump remarks
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Virginia Giuffre accused Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell of recruiting her to join a sex-trafficking ring. Photo: Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Attention on Tuesday turned back to an Epstein accuser, the late Virginia Giuffre, as the Trump administration faced growing pressure over its handling of the Epstein files.
The big picture: President Trump suggested Tuesday the late disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein "poached" workers from his Mar-a-Lago resort and among them may have been Giuffre — one of the highest-profile accusers in the case, who died by suicide in April.
- Giuffre's lawsuit formed a key part of the Epstein investigation. Her 2015 lawsuit against Ghislaine Maxwell led to the criminal charges that brought the Epstein associate's ultimate conviction for the sex-trafficking of minors that she is asking the Supreme Court to overturn.
What he's saying: "Yeah, he took people," said Trump, who has never been implicated in any wrongdoing concerning the Epstein case, of the financier. "I said, 'Don't do it anymore, they work for me.' ... Once he did that, that was the end of him. When they steal people, I don't like that."
- When specifically asked about whether Giuffre was one of the poached workers, Trump said, "I don't know. I think she worked at the spa. I think so. I think that was one of the people, ya. He stole her."
Here's what to know:
Giuffre's accusations against Epstein and Maxwell
Driving the news: In 2009, under the pseudonym "Jane Doe 102," Giuffre sued Epstein and alleged she was "sexually exploited by Epstein's adult male peers, including royalty" while a minor after being employed as his personal masseuse.
- Giuffre reached a $500,000 settlement with convicted sex-trafficker Epstein before the lawsuit went to trial.
Meanwhile, she accused Maxwell of approaching her when she was working as a locker room attendant at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in 2000 and later recruiting her for Epstein, per court documents that were unsealed in 2019 in a lawsuit that she filed against the Epstein associate.
- Prosecutors who brought criminal charges against Maxwell in 2020 accused her of lying in sworn depositions in 2016 that Business Insider notes were related to Giuffre's lawsuit against the daughter of the late U.K. media mogul Robert Maxwell.
- The judge overseeing the case agreed for Maxwell's two perjury charges to be deferred for a separate trial after the sex-trafficking case, but prosecutors did not proceed with this after she was convicted.
Zoom in: Giuffre came forward publicly in a March 2011 interview with the British tabloid Mail On Sunday.
- Giuffre, an Australian resident, was interviewed soon after by FBI agents at the U.S. consulate in Sydney, The Guardian reported in 2015.
- The birth of her daughter encouraged her to speak out about Epstein's abuse, Giuffre told the Miami Herald in 2019.
Giuffre sued Maxwell for defamation in 2015 after Maxwell called her a "liar" for claiming to be a victim of Epstein and Maxwell.
- The case was settled for an undisclosed amount in 2017, and Maxwell was convicted in 2021 on sex-trafficking and other charges.
Giuffre's accusations against Prince Andrew, Alan Dershowitz
Giuffre alleged that Epstein arranged for Prince Andrew to sexually abuse her. Andrew, Queen Elizabeth II's second son, denied the abuse allegations.
- Giuffre sued him in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan in 2021 under the Child Victims Act, alleging that he sexually abused her on three occasions after she was "lent out for sexual purpose" by Epstein to the British prince.
- Prince Andrew settled a lawsuit with Giuffre in 2022 while not admitting to any wrongdoing.
The financial details of the settlement that came after Prince Andrew lost a bid to have the lawsuit dismissed were not disclosed.
- Prince Andrew stepped away from his royal duties over the lawsuit, and his military titles and royal patronages were returned to Queen Elizabeth.
- He told the BBC in 2019 that he had "no recollection" of ever meeting Giuffre and suggested that a widely circulated photograph of him with his arm around the then-17-year-old may have been doctored.
Other accusations: Giuffre, at the time known by her maiden name, Roberts, accused former Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz of sexually assaulting her when she was a teenager.
- Dershowitz denied the claims and called Giuffre a "certified, complete, total liar."
- Giuffre sued Dershowitz for defamation in April 2019 and Dershowitz filed a countersuit. Both parties agreed to drop the case in a 2022 settlement.
- "I now recognize I may have made a mistake in identifying Mr. Dershowitz," Giuffre said in a statement after the settlement.
Giuffre's death
Giuffre wrote in an Instagram post in March that she was injured in a crash with a school bus and was days away from dying of renal failure.
- She died by suicide nearly a month later, at 41.
- Giuffre's family said in a media statement she died at her farm in Western Australia after being "a lifelong victim of sexual abuse and sex trafficking."
- She was "a fierce warrior in the fight against sexual abuse and sex trafficking" and "the light that lifted so many survivors," they said.
Go deeper: Ghislaine Maxwell seeks immunity in exchange for congressional testimony
