With Prince Andrew’s deposition still unscheduled, judge asks British, Australian courts to secure other witnesses in sexual abuse suit

The delay in scheduling a date for the disgraced prince to testify under oath could prompt lawyers for Virginia Giuffre to ask the same judge to intervene in that matter, said her lawyer, David Boies, who originally sought to schedule the deposition for Dec. 6.

“I think if we don’t get this resolved in the next 36 hours or less we’re just going to notice his deposition. And then they either go to the judge to try to get it put off, or they have to show up,” Boies said.

A person close to Andrew with knowledge of the discussions, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive issue, said Giuffre’s deposition also has yet to be scheduled. Andrew agreed to be available at the end of February for that proceeding, but the timing didn’t work for Giuffre’s side, the person said.

Giuffre’s lawsuit, filed in August, has resulted in Andrew losing his military titles, royal honorifics and other marks of status.

An attorney for the prince declined to comment about the scheduling matters when reached Monday.

When he testifies, Andrew is expected to face uncomfortable questions about his ties to Epstein, a convicted sex offender who died by suicide in a Lower Manhattan jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. Epstein’s longtime companion, Ghislaine Maxwell, another friend of Andrew’s, was convicted in December of luring underage victims to be abused by Epstein.

One of the girls Maxwell allegedly recruited was Giuffre, then a teen in the Palm Beach area of Florida who was known as Virginia Roberts.

Giuffre has alleged that she was trafficked to Andrew through Epstein and Maxwell, and was subjected to unwanted sexual encounters with Andrew in London, New York and on Epstein’s private island in the Caribbean.

Andrew has denied ever having known Giuffre, even though there is a widely circulated photograph of him with his arm around her waist and a smiling Maxwell in a doorway behind them.

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan signed four requests to courts in the United Kingdom and in Australia, where Giuffre and her family live, asking for assistance in securing testimony.

In the United Kingdom, the parties are seeking testimony from Shukri Walker, a woman who is alleged to have seen Andrew and Giuffre together at a nightclub 20 years ago, and Robert Ashton Olney, who was a royal equerry for Andrew.

In Australia, the requests were to facilitate the taking of testimony of Giuffre’s husband, Robert, and Judith Lightfoot, a psychologist who has treated Giuffre.

Andrew’s deposition is expected to take place on his home turf, while Giuffre’s could happen via video feed because of pandemic-related travel difficulties.

“We have done everything we could to expedite it, including being willing to go to London to take the deposition,” Boies said, referring to Andrew’s future testimony.

British and Australian courts are expected to honor Kaplan’s requests without a dispute, although the witnesses are allowed to challenge the requests in court.

Mark Stephens, a media lawyer at the London-based law firm Howard Kennedy, said the British courts would cooperate — these kind of requests allow “courts in one country to help gather evidence for use in another country.”

Stephens said the technique was “fairly routine,” especially in international commercial cases, but has also been used in high-profile individual cases including a Los Angeles defamation lawsuit brought against Elon Musk by British cave diver Vernon Unsworth.

Karla Adam in London contributed to this report.