Consolidation?

There has been a fair bit of speculation about how Prince Andrew might respond to the lawsuit brought against him by Virginia Roberts Giuffre.

I wonder if he might be able to get the action consolidated with the action that she has against the prominent lawyer Alan Dershowitz. He has responded with evidence that Virginia Roberts was a prostitute for about a year before she got to know Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, that she then paid an active part in recruiting young girls for Mr Epstein’s dubious tastes. More recently, she has embarked upon a different an even more lucrative career, says Professor Dershowitz, of blackmailing men that she had sex with, and also those that she did not, lying all the way to the bank. Virginia Roberts apparently collected $½ million from Jeffrey Epstein before his demise, an undisclosed amount from Ghislaine Maxwell, and she and her lawyers seem rather put out that Prince Andrew has been slow reaching for his cheque book.

Meanwhile, it seems that Mr Dershowitz has no intention of paying anything. “We will get her…she will end up in prison for perjury” he has said.

It might well be unwise for Prince Andrew to turn up personally in New York. It seems that he is barely more popular there than Julian Assange.  And if Prince Andrew remains holed up in Balmoral, at least that is a more comfortable billet that that of poor old Julian Assange, who is still in Belmarsh Prison. If Prince Andrew has any spare cash, it might be well used contributing to Professor Dershowitz’s legal campaign.

It is impossible for us to know, of course, whether Virginia Roberts did or did not bed Prince Andrew when she was at the height of her earlier career. He says he has no recollection of ever meeting her, but that is not exactly the point. It appears to be the universal opinion of those who know him that he is not very bright. Indeed, that he is an arrogant plonker. But none of these things is, of itself, actionable.