Virginia Giuffre, one of the most outspoken survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s notorious sex-trafficking ring, passed away at the age of 41. Known for her courageous legal battle against powerful figures like Prince Andrew and Ghislaine Maxwell, Giuffre’s story of resilience, exploitation, and tragedy drew international attention. The following is a detailed account of her life, her role in exposing Epstein’s network, and her untimely passing.
Virginia Giuffre’s Lawsuit Against Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein
She filed a sexual assault lawsuit against Prince Andrew and claimed that Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, his accomplice, had recruited her to join their predatory ring. Virginia Giuffre, a former victim of Jeffrey Epstein’s sex-trafficking ring, passed away on Friday at her Western Australian farm. She claimed that as a teenager, she was “passed around like a platter of fruit” to wealthy and influential predators, including Prince Andrew of Britain. Her age was forty-one. The family released a statement stating that Ms. Giuffre committed suicide. In March, Ms. Giuffre (pronounced JIFF-ree) posted on Instagram that she was in danger of dying from renal failure after being hurt in a car accident involving a school bus that she claimed was moving at around 70 miles per hour.
Federal authorities in the Southern District of New York arrested Mr. Epstein in 2019 and charged him with conspiracy and sex trafficking after he allegedly asked adolescent females to give increasingly explicit massages. Mr. Epstein was discovered hanging in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Lower Manhattan about a month after he was arrested and a day after records from Ms. Giuffre’s successful defamation lawsuit against him were made public. At age 66, his death was determined to be a suicide.
Early Life and Recruitment Into Epstein’s Trafficking Network
Ms. Giuffre, then known only as Jane Doe 102, filed a lawsuit against Mr. Epstein in 2009. She claimed that he and his accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, the daughter of the deposed British media mogul Robert Maxwell, had enlisted her as a minor to join his sex-trafficking ring under the pretense of training her to be a professional masseuse. She was the first victim of Mr. Epstein to go public and give up her anonymity in 2015; on Sunday, she sold her story to the British tabloid The Mail. According to Nigel Cawthorne’s 2022 book, Ms. Giuffre stated, “Basically, I was training to be a prostitute for him and his friends who shared his interest in young girls.” “Virginia Giuffre: The Unusual Life Story of the Masseuse Who Tracked Down and Put an End to the Sexual Offenses of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, Millionaires.” “I must do for Andrew what I do for Jeffrey,” she remarked, quoting Ghislaine.
Ms. Giuffre accused British socialite Ms. Maxwell and multimillionaire financier Mr. Epstein of pressuring her into having sex with Prince Andrew, also called the Duke of York. Although he vehemently rejected the charges, he gave up his royal responsibilities in 2019. She filed a lawsuit against the prince, who is the younger brother of King Charles III of England, in 2021, claiming that he had engaged in sexual assault against her at the residences of Ms. Maxwell in London and Mr. Epstein in Manhattan and Little St. James, Virgin Islands. Prince Andrew was seen with his hand around her waist in a widely circulated photo. He claimed he couldn’t recall the event.
In a statement following his agreement to resolve Ms. Giuffre’s lawsuit in 2022, Prince Andrew commended her for speaking up and promised to “demonstrate his regret” for his affiliation with Mr. Epstein “by supporting the fight against the evils of sex trafficking, and by supporting its victims.” She and her charity, now known as Speak Out, Act, Reclaim, were to receive an undisclosed amount as part of the settlement. A picture of a young Ms. Giuffre grinning for the camera while wearing a pink crop top and vibrant slacks, with Ghislaine Maxwell standing close by and Prince Andrew putting his arm around her waist.
Personal Struggles, Advocacy, and Tragic Death
In 2000, while working as a locker room attendant at President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, Ms. Giuffre said in depositions and interviews that she was recruited to the sex ring. She claims that Ms. Maxwell contacted her while she was reading a manual on massage treatment and extended an invitation to work as Mr. Epstein’s traveling masseuse. She claimed that after that, the two of them trained her to provide sex services to affluent guys. In 2015, Ms. Giuffre filed a defamation lawsuit against Ms. Maxwell; in 2017, they reached an undisclosed settlement. In 2021, Ms. Maxwell was found guilty on several charges, including sex trafficking. The verdict was seen as the legal equivalent of Mr. Epstein’s hanging himself, depriving the justice system and his victims. Ms. Maxwell received a 20-year prison sentence.
Sky and Lynn Roberts welcomed Virginia Louise Roberts into the world on August 9, 1983, in Sacramento. Her father worked as a maintenance manager at Mar-a-Lago when the family relocated to Palm Beach County when she was four years old. She claimed that after being abused by a close family friend since she was seven years old, she fled her home. She lived on the streets when she was 14, boarded with an aunt in California, was placed in foster homes, escaped to the Haight-Ashbury section of San Francisco, which was once a hippie haven, and spent six months with a 65-year-old sex trafficker who mistreated her.
Mr. Cawthorne stated that “Virginia had determined for herself she could not refuse” Mr. Epstein’s offer of $200 for multiple massages per day was preferable to living on the streets and making $9 per hour for her summer work at Mar-a-Lago. Her mandate, however, extended far beyond those responsibilities. In 2019, she said that she was “passed around like a platter of fruit” to Mr. Epstein’s acquaintances and that private jets took her all over the world.
In order to pursue a career as a professional masseuse, Ms. Giuffre enrolled in Thailand’s International Training Massage School in 2002 at the age of 19. There, she married Australian martial arts instructor Robert Giuffre. Before relocating to Perth in 2020, the couple resided in Australia, Florida, and Colorado and had three children. Since then, they have split up. It was not immediately clear if she had survived.
The birth of her baby in 2010 motivated Ms. Giuffre to talk openly about her trauma, she told The Miami Herald in 2019. She clarified why she had first consented to allow Ms. Maxwell and Mr. Epstein to train her as a sexual prostitute and masseuse. She claimed, “I trusted them because they seemed like nice people. I told them that I had had a really difficult life up until that point—I had been a runaway, I had been sexually and physically abused.” They were now aware of my vulnerability, therefore that was the worst thing I could have said to them.
You can reach the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988 if you are experiencing suicidal thoughts. For a list of more resources, see SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources.