Virginia Giuffre seeks testimony from Prince Andrew’s former assistant

Prince Andrew's longtime accuser Virginia Giuffre is seeking testimony from his former equerry, according to court papers in her sexual abuse lawsuit against the royal.

Giuffre's attorneys said on Friday that they had "reason to believe" that Robert Olney, the Duke of York's past assistant, has "relevant information about Prince Andrew's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein".

Giuffre, now 38, alleges she was forced into sex at 17 with Andrew by two of his then associates: Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.

Epstein, a convicted sex offender and financier, was arrested in July 2019 for sex trafficking girls as young as 14. He killed himself in a Manhattan jail about one month later, while awaiting trial.

Maxwell, daughter of the British press baron Robert Maxwell, was convicted of sex trafficking and related charges last month for bringing girls as young as 14 to Epstein for him to abuse. Andrew has denied all allegations of misconduct.

Giuffre's lawyers also wrote in court filings that Olney's name "appears in publicly available copies of Epstein's phone book".

The attorneys said in court filings that they would like to question Olney about Andrew's relationship with Epstein and Maxwell. Giuffre's lawyers also said they wanted to ask him about "any communications with or regarding plaintiff,", as well as Andrew's travel to New York City and "to or from any of Jeffrey Epstein's homes".