By ROD McGUIRK, Associated Press
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Lawyers for two sons of Virginia Giuffre, her housekeeper and her former attorney appeared in an Australian court Friday in a case deciding who controls her estate.
Giuffre was the highest-profile accuser of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and she settled a lawsuit for an undisclosed sum in 2022 against then- Prince Andrew, now known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor after he was stripped of his royal titles over his association with Epstein
She died by suicide in April at the age of 41 at her farm in Western Australia state without leaving a will.
The only adults of her three children — Christian Giuffre, 19, and Noah Giuffre, 18, — filed a case in the state Supreme Court in June to gain control of their mother’s estate including property in Western Australia, where she had lived for years, and potential revenue from her memoir “Nobody’s Girl.”
The memoir, released last month, expands on her claims that she was sexually trafficked as a teen by the late financier to billionaires, politicians and King Charles III’s brother. Mountbatten-Windsor categorically rejected the allegations and said he didn’t recall having met her.
The brothers want the court to appoint them administrators of their mother’s estate.
The brother’s application is opposed by Virginia Giuffre’s former housekeeper and caregiver Cheryl Myers and her former Perth-based attorney, Karrie Louden. The women want to be made administrators.
A temporary administrator was appointed this week to manage the estate. The first court hearing in the case was held Friday and another will be scheduled next year.
Lawyers on Friday discussed a range of issues, including whether Virginia Giuffre’s daughter, who cannot be named for legal reasons, and her estranged husband Robert Giuffre should become parties in the case.
Virginia Giuffre separated from her husband and children this year. She had been charged with breaching a family violence restraining order over an incident in February, and died before she was to appear in court over the matter.
