Prince Andrew ‘could settle Virginia Roberts sex case out of court if it goes to trial’, insiders claim

PRINCE Andrew could settle the Virginia Roberts sex assault lawsuit out of court if it goes to trial, insiders have claimed.

The Duke of York's lawyers are keeping the settlement option "on the table" due to the negative impact a court case could have on other senior royals - including the 95-year-old Queen.

Andrew's team have not discussed the possibility of a settlement yet but haven't ruled it out as an option, it is understood.

Almost all US civil cases are settled out of court - usually with a substantial fee.

It comes as the Duke's team wait for a judge to decide whether Ms Roberts' civil lawsuit should be dropped altogether.

They claim a secret 2009 deal she made with billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein exempts Andrew from legal action.

But Judge Lewis Kaplan is unlikely to accept the pending motion, meaning lawyers will have to decide whether to settle or risk a gruelling grilling from lawyers in court.

An insider told the : "Obviously, this is a US case involving US lawyers and involving a US civil lawsuit.

"In reality, 99 per cent of US civil litigations are settled out of court.

"A settlement would always be an option on the table, as that’s where the vast majority end up.

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"There is also the wider pressure and attritional impact to consider."

Virginia Roberts Giuffre claims she was forced to have sex with Andrew three times between 1999 and 2002 — in ­London, New York and on Epstein’s private Caribbean island.

Ms Giuffre, now 38, has filed a battery and infliction of emotional distress lawsuit against Andrew.

No discussions about whether to settle her case out of court have been had between Andrew and his team so far, it is understood.

Andrew has always strongly denied all allegations made against him.

A settlement would mean he - and potentially other close members of the Firm - would avoid a court appearance.

But it wouldn't go far in helping to clear his name following the duke's disastrous Newsnight interview in 2019.

Andrew's sex trafficker pal Ghislaine Maxwell was last week found guilty of helping to entice vulnerable teens to ex-lover Epstein's properties for him to sexually abuse between 1994 and 2004.

She could spend the rest of her life in prison after being convicted of five out of six counts of sex trafficking for vile Epstein’s paedophile ring.

She is now set to file for a mistrial after a jury member admitted telling the others of his own experience of abuse to sway them.

Scotty David, 35, said some jurors were struggling to believe Maxwell’s victims.

He revealed the jury room went silent when he detailed what happened to him when young, telling them — like the women in the New York case — he could remember only some of what happened.

He said: “When I shared that, they were able to come around on the memory aspect of the sexual abuse.”

A source close to the British socialite said: “Her team will raise this with the judge. They see this as grounds for a mistrial. It’s unbelievable.”

Prospective jurors were given questionnaires which asked if they had experienced sexual abuse.

If yes, they had to say if it would affect their “ability to serve fairly and impartially”.

Scotty said he “flew through” the questionnaire and would only have answered honestly.

And he said he went into the trial believing Maxwell was “innocent until proven guilty”.

But he said yesterday that Maxwell was “just as guilty as Epstein”, adding: “Predator is the right word. She knew what was happening.”

Prosecutors asked judge Alison Nathan to conduct an inquiry into the claims.