Virginia Giuffre, a prominent advocate and survivor of Jeffrey Epstein’s sex crimes who accused Britain’s Prince Andrew of abuse during her teenage years, has died by suicide at the age of 41, her family confirmed.
In a statement, her family said, “It is with utterly broken hearts that we announce Virginia passed away last night at her farm in Western Australia.”
Authorities confirmed that emergency services responded to a call at her home near Perth on Friday night, where Giuffre was found unresponsive. Despite efforts to revive her, she was pronounced dead at the scene. Police stated that her death is not being treated as suspicious.
“Virginia lost her life to suicide after enduring a lifetime of sexual abuse and trafficking,” her family said. “She was a fierce warrior in the fight against sexual abuse and sex trafficking, a beacon of hope for many survivors. But in the end, the weight of her trauma became too heavy to bear.”
Giuffre, a mother of three, was among the most outspoken accusers of Epstein, alleging in 2019 that he trafficked her and forced her to have sex with his influential friends — including Prince Andrew — when she was just 17. She also maintained that the prince knew she was underage at the time. Prince Andrew has repeatedly denied these allegations.
Jeffrey Epstein was indicted in July 2019 on charges of sex trafficking minors and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking, pleading not guilty. He died by suicide in prison a month later. Epstein had been accused of orchestrating a network that exploited girls as young as 14 at his properties in New York and Florida between 2002 and 2005.
A 2009 settlement, made public in 2022, revealed that Epstein paid Giuffre $500,000 to resolve a lawsuit without any admission of wrongdoing.
Before that, Epstein had pleaded guilty in 2008 to state prostitution charges involving a minor and served 13 months under a controversial plea deal.
Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former associate, was arrested in 2020 and later convicted on five federal charges, including sex trafficking of a minor and conspiracy. She was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2022.