Virginia Roberts Giuffre

Virginia Lee Roberts Giuffre ( ; ; 9 August 1983 – 25 April 2025) was an American and Australian advocate for survivors of sex trafficking and one of the most prominent accusers of Jeffrey Epstein.

The Guardian cites Giuffre's 2011 FBI interview report She publicly claimed she was trafficked to Andrew on 3 different occasions in a 2019 BBC interview, shifting public opinion against the prince. Andrew denied the allegations. In 2021, she filed the civil suit Giuffre v. Prince Andrew. The lawsuit was settled in February 2022. Andrew paid Giuffre an undisclosed amount, made a donation to her charity, denied wrongdoing, and settled without admission of liability.

Giuffre pursued criminal and civil actions against Epstein and Maxwell. In 2015, she sued Maxwell for defamation. The case was settled in 2017 for an undisclosed sum. was born in Sacramento, California, on 9 August 1983, to Lynn Trude Cabell and Sky William Roberts. She had an elder half-brother, Sky Rocket Roberts. Her father has denied the claims. Giuffre said that she went from being in "an abusive situation, to being a runaway, to living in foster homes". She lived on the streets at age 14, where she says she found only "hunger and pain and [more] abuse".

At some point between age 13 and age 15, Giuffre was abused by a sex trafficker, Ron Eppinger, in Miami. Giuffre lived with Eppinger for approximately six months. Eppinger reportedly ran a front business for international sex trafficking known as the modeling agency "Perfect 10" and was investigated by the FBI. He later pleaded guilty to charges of alien smuggling for prostitution, interstate travel for prostitution, and money laundering.

Giuffre was sent to Growing Together, a TTI (troubled teen industry) facility in Lake Worth, Florida that was later shut down after an investigation.

She attended Royal Palm Beach High School. In her memoir, Giuffre said that at age 16 she had quit school after completing the ninth grade. Giuffre's father worked as a maintenance manager at the Mar-a-Lago property owned by Donald Trump, and he helped Giuffre obtain a job there in 2000 when she was 16 years old. Giuffre met Ghislaine Maxwell when working as a spa attendant at Mar-a-Lago, while reading a book about massage therapy. Maxwell, a British socialite and daughter of media tycoon Robert Maxwell, approached Giuffre, noted the book that she was reading, inquired about her interest in massage, and offered her a potential job working for Epstein as a traveling masseuse with the assurance that no experience was necessary. thumb leftBetween 2000 and 2002, Giuffre was closely associated with Epstein and Maxwell, traveling between Epstein's residences in Palm Beach (at 358 El Brillo Way) and Manhattan (at the Herbert N. Straus House), with additional trips to Epstein's Zorro Ranch in New Mexico and private island Little Saint James. In the Miami Heralds investigative journalism series "Perversion of Justice", Giuffre describes her experiences of being trafficked by Epstein to provide massages and sexual services for him and a number of his business associates, over a two-and-a-half-year period. In her interview with the BBC, Giuffre said she was "passed around like a platter of fruit" to Epstein's powerful associates, and taken around the world on private jets. After visiting a nightclub, Giuffre says Maxwell told her that she "had to do for Andrew what I do for Jeffrey". The men denied Giuffre's allegations.

In September 2002, at the age of 19, Giuffre flew to Thailand and attended the International Training Massage School in Chiang Mai. Maxwell provided her with tickets to travel to Thailand, and instructed her to meet with a specific Thai girl, and to bring her back to the United States for Epstein. While at the massage school in Thailand in 2002, she met Robert Giuffre, an Australian martial arts trainer She contacted Epstein and informed him that she would not be returning as planned. She and her husband started a life and family in Australia, and Giuffre broke off contact with Epstein and Maxwell. where Epstein would ask them to massage him and then sexually assault them during the massage. When police searched through Epstein's trash, they found notes with the telephone numbers of the girls on them. Giuffre says she resisted speaking at length to the FBI until she was approached again about the matter in person, this time by the Australian Federal Police, six months after being contacted by phone.

Legal proceedings Jane Doe No. 102 v. Jeffrey Epstein (2009) In May 2009, Giuffre filed a lawsuit as Jane Doe 102 against Epstein and accused Maxwell of recruiting her to a life of being sexually trafficked while she was a minor. At the time, she named Epstein and Maxwell but did not identify any of the men. Dozens of Epstein's victims had filed civil lawsuits against him and by late 2009, all suits were settled. was $500,000 and other unspecified "valuable consideration".

Decision to speak out publicly Giuffre credits the birth of her daughter on 7 January 2010, as the date she decided to speak out publicly. She also described being motivated to act after seeing a photograph showing Epstein and Andrew walking together in Central Park published in News of the World in late 2010. Vanity Fair stated that Giuffre's story was first publicized in March 2011 by the Mail on Sunday (Daily Mail), the coverage included the photo showing Mountbatten-Windsor with his arm around her at Maxwell's house in Belgravia, London. In 2011, FBI agents again made contact with Giuffre, this time at the US consulate in Sydney, soon after she went public with allegations against Epstein. At the time, Sharon Churcher of the Daily Mail stated there was "no suggestion that there was any sexual contact between Virginia and Prince Andrew, or that Prince Andrew knew that Epstein paid her to have sex with his friends." Following the DailyMail article, Giuffre was interviewed by the FBI. She alleged that Epstein and Maxwell had trafficked her to men including Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. She stated that Epstein and Maxwell took her to Tramp nightclub in London, where she met and danced with Andrew She alleged that Epstein paid her $15,000 after she had sex with Andrew in London.

The article included a photo depicting Giuffre, Mountbatten-Windsor, and Maxwell, in Maxwell's apartment. Prince Andrew's ten-year role as a United Kingdom trade envoy was terminated in July 2011, and he reportedly cut all ties with Epstein. Maxwell, while serving her prison sentence, stated to several interviewers that she believed the photograph was fake. Following the allegations, The Mail on Sunday was contacted by the photographer Michael Thomas, who took 39 copies of it, front and back. The back of the photo has a time stamp showing it was developed on 13 March 2001 – three days after Andrew allegedly engaged in sexual activity with Giuffre – and it was printed at a one-hour photo lab at Walgreens in Florida near Giuffre's former home. An email sent by "G Maxwell" to Jeffrey Epstein in 2015, released as part of the Epstein files, appears to confirm that a photograph had been taken, reading: "In 2001 I was in London when [redacted] met a number of friends of mine including Prince Andrew. A photograph was taken as I imagine she wanted to show it to friends and family."

The second sexual encounter with Andrew allegedly happened at Epstein's New York mansion. In court documents, Giuffre stated that the third encounter with Andrew was an orgy on Little Saint James that involved her, several underage girls from Eastern Europe, the prince, and Epstein himself. Requests from Giuffre's lawyers for a statement under oath from Mountbatten-Windsor about the allegations were returned unanswered. In her posthumous memoir Nobody's Girl, Giuffre stated that she first had sex with Andrew on 10 March 2001. Launch of civil lawsuit: Giuffre v. Prince Andrew (2021) and settlement

On 9 August 2021, Giuffre filed a civil lawsuit in New York against Prince Andrew alleging that she was forced to have several sexual encounters with him in the early 2000s after being trafficked by Epstein when she was 16 and 17 years old. Andrew denied Giuffre's claims. On 12 January 2022, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan rejected Andrew's attempts to dismiss the case, allowing the sexual abuse lawsuit to proceed. On 15 February 2022, the parties reached an out-of-court settlement, which included Andrew making a substantial donation to Giuffre's charity. As part of the settlement, Andrew acknowledged that it is "known that Jeffrey Epstein trafficked countless young girls over many years" and that he "regrets his association with Epstein, and commends the bravery of Ms. Giuffre and other survivors in standing up for themselves and others". The settlement was estimated to be as high as £12 million, part of which went to SOAR (Speak Out, Act, Reclaim), the advocacy charity for survivors of sex trafficking that Giuffre had founded.

Alleged attempts by Andrew and Maxwell associate to discredit Giuffre In Nobody's Girl, published posthumously in October 2025, Giuffre claimed that just before the first publication of the famous photo of Andrew with Giuffre in 2011, Andrew had tried to dig up dirt for a smear campaign against her by providing her date of birth and social security number to his police protection officer, on which the officer was not said to have acted. In late 2025, the Metropolitan Police investigated these claims that Andrew asked his personal bodyguard to seek incriminating information about Giuffre in 2011 and concluded their investigation in December 2025, after a review, saying their "assessment has not revealed any additional evidence of criminal acts or misconduct". Gallagher stepped down in February 2021 after it became known he had contacted Molly Skye Brown who had accused Giuffre of being an "enabler" for Epstein rather than a victim. In the lead up to Maxwell's trial, between October 2020 and January 2021, an anonymous Twitter troll account had posted more than 1,200 messages and retweets critical of Giuffre. The account was described by experts as exhibiting all the traits of a troll account set up specifically to attack her.

Alan Dershowitz allegations and related lawsuits Multiple defamation lawsuits were filed between Giuffre, her legal representatives, and Alan Dershowitz in a legal battle between 2014 and 2022, when all parties dropped their remaining claims.

Edwards and Cassell v. Dershowitz (2015) and countersuit Giuffre claimed that Epstein trafficked her to lawyer and Harvard law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz at least six times, the first when she was aged 16. Dershowitz vehemently denied the allegations in Giuffre's statement and sought disbarment of Edwards and Cassell, the lawyers filing the suit. Edwards and Cassell sued Dershowitz for defamation in 2015; he countersued. while Giuffre stood by her accusations.

Giuffre v. Dershowitz (2019), countersuit, and Boies v. Dershowitz Following denials by Dershowitz, Giuffre said, "I'm not going to be bullied back into silence." In April 2019, Giuffre filed a federal civil defamation lawsuit against Alan Dershowitz in New York. That same month, Maria Farmer filed an affidavit in support of Giuffre's defamation suit against Dershowitz which stated that while Farmer worked signing in guests at Epstein's front desk in 1995–1996, she had regularly encountered Dershowitz at the New York mansion at times when underage girls were present. and a motion to disqualify Boies' firm from representing her (which was later approved). Giuffre stated in September 2019 that she continued to stand by her claims of misconduct by Dershowitz. On 8 November 2022, in a jointly released statement both sides agreed to drop their claims and waive the right to any appeal, with no fees awarded. Giuffre stated she "may have made a mistake" in identifying Dershowitz. Dershowitz stated his allegations that Boies was involved in an extortion plot were also "mistaken". In a sworn affidavit, she claimed Maxwell worked as Epstein's madam. On 8 January 2024, the court unsealed documents related to this lawsuit, totaling 4,553 pages and revealing the names of over 150 people connected to Epstein.

Rina Oh v. Virginia Giuffre (2021) Rina Oh sued Giuffre for defamation in October 2021 in Manhattan federal court, for $20 million in damages. Oh acknowledged that she introduced three young women to Epstein including Marijke Chartouni, and that she had taken Giuffre shopping for a schoolgirl outfit on Epstein's orders. In 2022, in court documents, Oh accused Giuffre of touching her sexually without consent while Epstein watched, but Giuffre denied the claim. Giuffre filed a counterclaim in May 2022, alleging that Oh had cut her during sadomasochistic games done for Epstein. Oh accused Giuffre of fabricating stories in her unpublished memoir (publicly released as part Giuffre v. Maxwell), particularly her depiction of Oh as a dominatrix who engaged in violent sexual acts. Oh told The Times that "the whole thing was made up". Following Giuffre's death, lawyers said Oh's lawsuit would proceed but was on pause awaiting the appointment of an estate trustee to take the place of Giuffre. and charged with sex trafficking and sex trafficking conspiracy by prosecutors with the Public Corruption Unit of the Southern District of New York. In the indictment, Epstein was accused of soliciting massages from underage girls where the activities became increasingly sexual and then of enlisting the girls to recruit other underage victims for pay. On 29 August 2019, the case against Epstein was closed after District Judge Richard Berman dismissed all sex trafficking charges. Judge Berman expressed support for Epstein's accusers, stating that he invited them to speak publicly at a hearing on 27 August 2019, out of "respect" for "the difficult decisions victims made to come forward". At the hearing, Giuffre stated, "The reckoning must not end. It must continue. He did not act alone. We the victims know that." Prosecutors signaled that they would continue an investigation for potential co-conspirators. She said that Epstein told her he slept with "over 1,000 Brunel girls."

Giuffre flew to Paris in January 2021 and provided testimony at a closed-door hearing on Brunel's detention. In June 2021, Giuffre returned to France and provided preliminary testimony against Brunel.

After Brunel died by suicide in 2022 in the La Santé Prison, Giuffre stated: "The suicide of Jean Luc Brunel, who abused me and countless girls and young women, ends another chapter. I am disappointed that I was not able to face him in a final trial and hold him accountable for his actions, but gratified that I was able to face him in person last year in Paris, to keep him in prison."

Media appearances Giuffre appeared on a special edition of Dateline NBC with Savannah Guthrie discussing the Epstein scandal along with victims Anouska De Georgiou, Rachel Benavidez, Jennifer Araoz, Marijke Chartouni and Chauntae Davies. The special, titled "Reckoning", aired on 20 September 2019. In the program she described her experiences of being trafficked by Epstein and Maxwell to have sex with Prince Andrew three times in 2001: the first time being in London at Maxwell's Belgravia residence, the second at Epstein's New York mansion, and the final occurrence (involving multiple girls and the Prince) on Little Saint James. Andrew resigned from his royal duties on 20 November 2019, as a number of organizations and charities that he was connected to severed ties. Despite his promises to assist authorities, in January 2020, U.S. attorney Geoffrey Berman stated that Andrew had provided "zero cooperation" after the FBI and the Southern District of New York had requested to interview him as part of the Epstein inquiry.

Giuffre appeared, along with Maria Farmer, in a May 2020 four-part Netflix series, titled Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich. It was directed by Lisa Bryant and based on the earlier book of the same name by James Patterson. In July 2020, following Maxwell's federal indictment, Giuffre was interviewed by Gayle King for CBS This Morning. Giuffre and other survivors of Epstein's sex trafficking ring were featured in the four-part documentary series Surviving Jeffrey Epstein, which premiered on 9 August 2020, on Lifetime.

Manuscript and memoir Giuffre's unpublished manuscript The Billionaire's Playboy Club became public when courts unsealed documents in 2019, and again in 2020.

Her memoir, Nobody's Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice, was co-authored with journalist Amy Wallace. Giuffre began working with Wallace on the new memoir in Spring 2021 and had completed it before her death in April 2025. Nobody's Girl is distinct from the earlier manuscript and was posthumously published by Alfred A. Knopf on 21 October 2025. Giuffre's memoir also earned the British Book Awards 2026 prize for Nonfiction: Narrative Book of the Year, as well as the Freedom to Publish Award which was jointly awarded to Giuffre and Sarah Wynn-Williams.

Allegations against Giuffre Epstein victim Carolyn Andriano has blamed Giuffre for recruiting her to Epstein when she was only 14 years old. Andriano recalled that Giuffre instructed her "whatever you do, don't say your age" to Epstein, and provided her with provocative clothing to meet him. According to Andriano, after she was brought to Epstein's home, Giuffre had sex with Epstein while she "sat on the couch and watched until it was finished". She also said that Giuffre later trained her how to massage Epstein in return for money, and that she would later visit the home an estimated 100 times.

In 2022, Andriano argued that Giuffre should be prosecuted similarly to Ghislaine Maxwell, stating "I don't think Virginia deserves anything less than what Maxwell is getting because she trafficked me". Together they had three children, two sons and a daughter. The family relocated to the United States in November 2013, initially spending time in Florida, The family moved from the US back to Cairns, Queensland, in 2017. The family purchased a farming property in Neergabby in August 2023 after securing the settlement from Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. Virginia and her husband reportedly separated in 2024. Some members of her family said that she had separated from Robert even earlier, in August 2023, when she first raised the subject of divorce. Records indicate that Robert was arrested in Colorado in 2015 and pleaded guilty to domestic violence for which he was placed on probation.

Virginia said Robert was violent again in January 2025 when the family gathered for a birthday celebration for one of the children. Robert accused Virginia of breaching a family violence restraining order in February and a court hearing was set. For several months afterward, she was prevented from seeing her children. At the time of her death, she had been in a custody battle for her three children with Robert, with whom she was undergoing a divorce. Giuffre reportedly felt that Trump was "kind to her", and did not implicate him in any allegations of abuse. She had surgery to treat injuries to her spine and sternum in 2023. involving her vehicle and a school bus. Local police confirmed they had received a report of a minor crash from the bus driver the following day, but that no injuries had been reported. She was discharged from the hospital on 7 April 2025. Death

Giuffre died by suicide at her home in Neergabby, Western Australia, on 25 April 2025, at the age of 41. Her brothers were with her in the weeks before she died.

Five years before her death she had posted to Twitter saying that she was "in no way, shape or form" suicidal, and that "if something happens to me", "do not let [it] go away". Following Giuffre's death, her public representative, Dini von Mueffling, told The Times that Giuffre was suicidal at the time: "she confided in me [in the weeks before her death] that she had planned to commit suicide, down to the method."

Charity

Giuffre used imagery of a blue butterfly for her organization to symbolize the transformation and empowerment that occurs when a victim becomes a survivor and because blue is the international color of human trafficking awareness.

Victims Refuse Silence did not make official tax filings after 2019 and had its non-profit status revoked in 2023. The i Paper reported that "the charity appears to have been wound down." The website stated SOAR was not accepting donations at this time. In 2023, Andrew was reportedly seeking to overturn the deal he struck with Giuffre. Democrats in the house and senate, announced the proposal along with members of Giuffre's family. Her brother Sky Roberts and his wife Amanda released a statement in support of the bill that would offer survivors "the right to seek justice, no matter the status, wealth or power of the person who harmed them, and no matter when the abuse occurred." To be enacted, Virginia's Law would need to pass both chambers of congress.