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Virginia Giuffre, who accused Britain\u2019s Prince Andrew and other influential men of sexually exploiting her as a teenager trafficked by financier Jeffrey Epstein, has died. She was 41.<\/p>\n
Giuffre died by suicide Friday at her farm in Western Australia, her publicist confirmed.<\/p>\n
\u201cVirginia was a fierce warrior in the fight against sexual abuse and sex trafficking. She was the light that lifted so many survivors,\u201d her family said in a statement. \u201cDespite all the adversity she faced in her life, she shone so bright. She will be missed beyond measure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her publicist Dini von Mueffling described Giuffre as \u201cdeeply loving, wise and funny.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe adored her children and many animals. She was always more concerned with me than with herself,\u201d Von Mueffling wrote in a statement. \u201cI will miss her beyond words. It was the privilege of a lifetime to represent her.\u201d<\/p>\n
The American-born Giuffre, who lived in Australia for years, became an advocate for sex trafficking survivors after emerging as a central figure in Epstein\u2019s prolonged downfall<\/a>.<\/p>\n The wealthy, well-connected New York money manager killed himself<\/a> in August 2019 while awaiting trial on U.S. federal sex trafficking charges<\/a> involving dozens of teenage girls and young women, some as young as 14. The charges came 14 years after police in Palm Beach, Florida, first began investigating allegations that he sexually abused underage girls who were hired to give him massages.<\/p>\n Giuffre came forward publicly after the initial investigation ended in an 18-month Florida jail term for Epstein, who made a secret deal<\/a> to avoid federal prosecution by pleading guilty instead to relatively minor state-level charges of soliciting prostitution. He was released in 2009.<\/p>\n Britain\u2019s Prince Andrew, Virginia Giuffre and Ghislaine Maxwell.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n In subsequent lawsuits, Giuffre said she was a teenage spa attendant at Mar-a-Lago \u2014 President Donald Trump\u2019s Palm Beach club \u2014 when she was approached in 2000 by Epstein\u2019s girlfriend and later employee, Ghislaine Maxwell.<\/p>\n Giuffre said Maxwell hired her as a masseuse for Epstein, but the couple effectively made her a sexual servant, pressuring her into gratifying not only Epstein but his friends and associates. Giuffre said she was flown around the world for assignations with men, including Prince Andrew<\/a> when she was 17 and 18.<\/p>\n The men denied it and assailed Giuffre\u2019s credibility. She acknowledged changing some key details of her account, including the age at which she first met Epstein.<\/p>\n But many parts of her story were supported by documents, witness testimony and photos \u2014 including one of her and Andrew, with his arm around her bare midriff, in Maxwell\u2019s London townhouse.<\/p>\n Giuffre said in one of her lawsuits that she had sex with the royal three times: in London during her 2001 trip, at Epstein\u2019s New York mansion when she was 17 and in the Virgin Islands when she was 18.<\/p>\n \u201cGhislaine said, \u2018I want you to do for him what you do for Epstein,\u2019\u201d Giuffre told NBC News\u2019 \u201cDateline\u201d<\/a> in September 2019.<\/p>\n Andrew categorically rejected Giuffre\u2019s allegations and said he didn\u2019t recall having met her.<\/p>\n His denials blew up in his face<\/a> during a November 2019 BBC interview. Viewers saw a prince who proffered curious rebuttals \u2014 such as disputing Giuffre\u2019s recollection of sweaty dancing by saying he was medically incapable of perspiring \u2014 and showed no empathy for the women who said Epstein abused them.<\/p>\n Within days of the interview, Andrew stepped down from his royal duties<\/a>. He settled with Giuffre<\/a> in 2022 for an undisclosed sum, agreeing to make a \u201csubstantial donation\u201d to her survivors\u2019 organization. A statement filed in court said that the prince acknowledged Epstein was a sex trafficker and Giuffre \u201can established victim of abuse.\u201d<\/p>\n She also filed, and in at least some cases settled, lawsuits against Epstein and others connected to him. In one case, she dropped her claims<\/a> against a prominent U.S. attorney, saying she might have erred in identifying him as one of the men to whom Epstein supplied her.<\/p>\n Epstein\u2019s suicide put an end to his accusers\u2019 hopes<\/a> of holding him criminally accountable.<\/p>\n Maxwell was convicted<\/a> in 2021 on federal sex trafficking and conspiracy charges and was sentenced to 20 years<\/a> in prison. She said she wasn\u2019t to blame for Epstein\u2019s abuse.<\/p>\n Prosecutors elected not to include Giuffre\u2019s allegations<\/a> in the Maxwell case, but Giuffre later told the court<\/a> that the British socialite had \u201copened the door to hell.\u201d<\/p>\n Giuffre, born Virginia Roberts, told interviewers that her childhood was shattered when she was sexually abused as a grade-schooler by a man her family knew. She later ran away from home and endured more abuse, she said.<\/p>\n She said she met the man who became her husband in 2002 while taking massage training in Thailand at Epstein\u2019s behest. She married, moved to Australia and had a family.<\/p>\n Giuffre founded an advocacy charity, SOAR, in 2015.<\/p>\n Giuffre was hospitalized after a serious accident, her publicist said last month. She didn\u2019t answer questions about the date, location, nature or other specifics of the accident and about the accuracy of an Instagram post that appeared to come from Giuffre. The post said she had been in a car that was hit by a school bus and her prognosis was dire.<\/p>\n Sigrid McCawley, an attorney for Giuffre, said in a statement Friday, \u201cHer 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.\u201d<\/p>\n The AP does not identify people who say they were victims of sexual assault unless they have come forward publicly.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n