Prince Andrew's accuser Virginia Giuffre says she 'made a mistake' in incriminating lawyer Alan Dershowitz

This is a major turnaround.

After arguing for years that lawyer Alan Dershowitz sexually assaulted her when she was a minor and exploited by Jeffrey Epstein, Virginia Giuffre has returned to her remarks.

On Tuesday, November 8, during her defamation lawsuit against the Harvard law professor, she admitted that she may have "made a mistake" in accusing him.

“I believed for a long time that I had been sold by Jeffrey Epstein to Alan Dershowitz.

However, I was very young at the time, it was a very stressful and traumatic environment, and Mr. Dershowitz has always denied these allegations from the start.

I recognize today that I may have made a mistake in identifying Mr. Dershowitz,” said the American, now 39, as reported by the

.

In video, the accuser of Prince Andrew denounces “ridiculous excuses”

For his part, the famous lawyer immediately reacted: “She suffered a lot at the hands of Jeffrey Epstein, and I salute her work in the fight against the scourge of sex trafficking.”

In the process, a document confirming the withdrawal of Virginia Giuffre's complaint was filed in Manhattan court.

For the time being, if the terms of the agreement are not known, no financial arrangement would have been concluded a priori.

"Devil's advocate"

Constitutional law specialist, professor at Harvard, author of some thirty books, recurring guest of the media... At 84, Alan Dershowitz is one of the most famous lawyers in the United States.

In the name of freedom of expression, he defended, at the start of his career, the right to make neo-Nazi remarks or pornography.

A lawyer for OJ Simpson, he later specialized in indefensible clients, to the point of being dubbed "Devil's Advocate" by The

.

Defending an “unpopular defendant” is, according to him, “as moral as treating him in an emergency for a doctor”.

At the beginning of 2020, the lawyer – of Democratic leanings – is once again making a name for himself by defending Donald Trump during his impeachment trial.

Accused of sexual assault

But if the name of Alan Dershowitz appears in the press in recent years, it is in the context of a completely different scandal: the case of financier Jeffrey Epstein, charged with multiple assaults on minors before being found dead. in prison in August 2019. He is accused in particular of having negotiated in 2008 an extremely lenient plea agreement for this client and friend.

More serious: one of Jeffrey Epstein's accusers, Virginia Giuffre (née Roberts) claims that the financier forced her to have sex with a number of prominent men, including Prince Andrew and Alan Dershowitz, when she was 17 years.

What the main interested party firmly denies.

“Incredible revelations”

Nevertheless, Virginia Giuffre's reversal of jacket questions.

Especially since Alan Dershowitz promised "incredible revelations" about his accuser.

"He says she's a liar, she keeps asking the rich for money and he won't take it.

He constantly repeats that he found bombs on her,” journalist Laurence Haïm told

in an interview at the end of September.

Would these potential revelations have prompted Virginia Giuffre to drop the charges?

The mystery remains intact.

To read alsoLaurence Haïm: "The trial of Ghislaine Maxwell is the trial of the world of the 1%, of people who believe themselves above the law"

One thing is certain: the end of this legal battle will not be without consequences.

It could in particular have an impact on the appeal of Ghislaine Maxwell, sentenced in June to twenty years in prison for sex trafficking of minors.

And across the Channel, some are already wondering if the latest statements by Virginia Giuffre are not likely to weaken her accusations against Prince Andrew.

Which had resulted in an amicable agreement for an undisclosed sum, sparing the second son of Queen Elizabeth II the public humiliation of a trial.

The Epstein case is definitely not over yet.