Prince Andrew's accuser Virginia Giuffre struggles to find book publisher
Prince Andrew's sexual abuse accuser Virginia Giuffre is struggling to find a publisher for her memoir because of the "serious legal challenges" it could spark but she's said to still be keen to release the tome before King Charles' coronation.
Prince Andrew's sexual abuse accuser Virginia Giuffre is struggling to find a publisher for her memoir because of the "serious legal challenges" it could spark.
The 39 year old - who had accused late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his one-time girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell of arranging and forcing her into having sex with the Duke of York when she was 17 - is said to have spent 12 years working on the tome, and though she planned to go into details about when she met the disgraced royal, even if she avoids the issue of their alleged intimate encounter, major publishing houses in the US are concerned releasing her memoir could spark a lawsuit due to inconsistencies in her story and other potential issues.
A source told RadarOnline.com: "The outline of Virginia's memoir has been shopped for years. The problem is that every major U.S. publisher has seen various iterations of it - and some of the material has been cut, other elements added.
"It's not a consistent story. This presents very serious legal challenges for anyone. At least one major publisher which considered printing it had no choice but to tell her, 'thanks, but no thanks.'"
Virginia signed a confidentiality clause as part of the out-of-court settlement she reached with Andrew - who has denied the allegations against him - before going to trial last year, but it is due to expire within the next few weeks, though it is believed she may still be barred from repeating her claims.
And she is said to be keen to publish her bombshell book before the prince's brother, King Charles' coronation in May.
A source previously said: “All eyes will be on the royal family in the weeks leading up to Charles’s coronation.
“Book releases are all about timing, and while there is speculation about whether Andrew will be seen at Westminster Abbey or on the Buckingham Palace balcony, what is certain he will be seen on every bookshelf around the world.”
Andrew is believed to have paid around $12 million to settle the case out of court last February, though has denied any wrongdoing, and is now said to have been consulting lawyers in the hope of overturning the settlement agreement.
In November, Virginia - who now lives in Australia - dropped a sexual abuse claim against Alan Dershowitz, admitting after an eight-year legal battle she "may have made a mistake" in claiming Donald Trump's former lawyer had abused her as a teenager, and the prince reportedly believes the "extraordinary" development has raised questions around her credibility, giving him hope to clear his name.
A batch of court records relating to Virginia's lawsuit against Maxwell, which was settled in May 2017, included a 139-page manuscript called 'The Billionaire's Playboy Club' which detailed her life as a sex slave for more than two years when she was 17 and spoke of the encounters she had with Epstein and his associates, including an allegation she was "pimped out" to high-profile men including Andrew and Alan.
Virginia claimed the manuscript was "99 per cent true", though her lawyers admitted some was "fictionalised" and she later confirmed a two-night liaison with the duke in New Mexico had never happened.
Andrew's lawyers wanted the manuscript considered as evidence in the civil case but the request was denied by the judge.
