Prince Andrew Has Three Options. He loses whatever he does.

Lack of cash and the desire to have more, has been a constant problem throughout Prince Andrewof life.

And with Wednesday’s news that he lost his last gasp to catch his accuser Virginia Roberts GiuffreThe case against him was dismissed due to a variety of technical, difficult financial circumstances that Andrew had difficulty with, compared to his brother Prince Charles, whose private income was large from lands including the so-called Principality of Cornwall, again seemed to be a big deal.

On Wednesday, Judge Lewis Kaplan re-quoted Andrew’s statements about him: “Ms. Giuffre’s complaint was not ‘confusing’, ‘vague’ and ‘unclear,” Kaplan said. Giuffre’s allegations – that Andrew raped her three times when she was 17, while she was trafficked for sex by Jeffrey Epstein – are “reprehensible” if true, judge Kaplan said.

The judge added that Giuffre and Epstein’s 2009 settlement in which he paid her $500,000 to remove sex-trafficking charges against him could not be used to protect Andrew from the action. her new. The judge said it didn’t apply to Andrew, adding that because it was supposed to be confidential, Andrew wouldn’t be in a position to invoke it if it hadn’t appeared in court records.

The lawsuit can now proceed. Basically, Andrew has three options: settle, fight the case, or mock the law from behind the palace walls.

Although Giuffre’s attorney David Boies has previously said that his client is do not pursue a lawsuit for financial reasons, and would like Andrew to be considered an account rather than returned, the actual pressure to accept such an offer would be substantial. The law point that if Andrew made a substantial offer, Giuffre would have to accept it or risk millions of dollars in legal fees if she were awarded a lower amount.

But even if Andrew wants to pay for the out-of-court settlement, there are question marks over whether he can afford to do so.

Andrew’s finances have always been a rather murky affair. His mother gave him a house, Sunninghill Park, as a wedding gift, which he later sold. in a shady deal for a Kazakh billionaire, part of the ruling elite of the country. The deal in 2007 saw Timur Kulibayev, son-in-law of the former Kazakh president, pay £3 million ($4 million) over an asking price of £12 million ($16 million). Andrew has argued that the transaction was legit and that he was just ‘lucky’ to get such a good price for the home.

It is thought that some of the millions he received from that sale were used to remodel his present home, the Royal Lodge, where he lives, free of charge, by grace and favor of the queen who owns it.

It is also alleged that some money from Sunninghill was moved into the Swiss $22 million luxury ski chalet the couple bought in 2014 and is now, not entirely coincidentally, sold.

A source told The Daily Beast that Andrew has already found a buyer for the home, however, he and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, who bought the house together, are believed to have only about $4 million in equity in the year. House.

So, he has some money, but, like Sunday Times reported this week, Andrew is said to have spent more than $2.7 million on attorneys to date.

Virginia Giuffre certainly did the math.

Although it is understood that his legal bills were guaranteed by the queen, Andrew still had to pay them in the end (presumably when the chalet was sold).

And if she doesn’t pay his legal bills, it looks like his mother, who has, let’s not forget, put a lot of blue water between the organization and Andrew, will pay a cash sum. giant for Giuffre.

Doing so would be a pain for the family.

The Mirror It was recently reported that Prince Charles and Prince William are staunchly opposed to Andrew’s view of the queen funding the legal battle and argue that it is up to them to “settle their own mess”. he.

And as the queen, who turned 96 in April, died suddenly, King Charles is more likely to send her brother to the tower for the rest of her life than settle a civil lawsuit. for him.

(A spokesperson for the queen declined to comment to The Daily Beast on whether she would be helping Andrew deal with his personal legal bills.)

The second option, fighting the case to the bitter end, was perhaps an unappealing prospect for Andrew.

As Giuffre’s attorney, David Boies told The Daily Beast on Wednesday, the case procedure means, “Prince Andrew will give evidence.” At first, this will be in the form of a deposition. But the truth is that being brought down on his sex life is unlikely to be high on Andrew’s list of New Year’s resolutions 2022.

And if he goes through the embarrassment and expense of the case and then loses (and it seems Andrew won’t find much sympathy among a group of jurors in New York) he still has a problem. to find money to settle the judgment.

This leads to the tempting third option, in which Andrew puts two fingers in a New York court and simply stops taking any more calls from Judge Lewis Kaplan or his representative.

Currently, no one in Andrew’s camp is willing to talk about the nuclear option of withdrawing cooperation and refusing to participate in the incident anymore. This will result in the so-called “default judgment” against him.

But in the minds of Andrew’s advisors will be the knowledge that default judgments handed down by US civil courts against undocumented US nonresidents are notoriously difficult to obtain. , even if the person in question is not an heir of English lineage. throne. Andrew’s unique diplomatic position will only make that task more difficult (though even ordinary citizens cannot be extradited for not making a default judgment in any case).

Sources in Giuffre’s camp were, perhaps understandably, keen to talk down this option. One said: “I just don’t think he would. The consequences would be too severe. Can you imagine a situation where the king’s brother is a debtor? He will never be able to own anything again for the rest of his life. If there’s a trial, and he loses, and whatever money the judge gives – maybe it gets paid and maybe it doesn’t – at least it’s over, it’s behind them. If he defaults, it goes on forever.”

However, Royal biographer Penny Junor told The Daily Beast that given that Andrew cannot be extradited to a civil claim, it’s hard to see how things could have gotten any worse if he simply abandon the public.

“All the damage was done long ago, when he gave that interview to Emily Maitlis, but the damage was to Andrew. The damage to the institution is quite small, because Andrew is not a significant member of it,” Junor said, “It is a shocking situation, but in a grand scheme of things, I don’t think it threatens. the life of the monarchy. . ”