The arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor on suspicion of misconduct in public office appears to relate to his alleged transfer of confidential trade information that the former duke obtained during his tenure as the U.K.’s envoy for international trade.
But the road to the former prince’s arrest was paved long ago.
In an hourlong conversation on Substack Live, reporter Vicky Ward and I agreed that Andrew’s arrest likely would never have happened if not for Virginia Giuffre, even though the investigation does not yet appear to be about her sexual abuse allegations.
Giuffre’s lawsuits against Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, and Andrew created the vast public record that ultimately resulted in their prosecutions. The federal prosecutions of Epstein and Maxwell almost certainly would not have taken place without the information embedded in their civil dockets. The stripping of Andrew’s royal titles wouldn’t have happened absent Giuffre’s landmark settlement of her civil suit, which survived Andrew’s attempt to dismiss the case.
All of these developments, combined with Giuffre’s advocacy up to her death, built up pressure to pass the Epstein Files Transparency Act, leading to the release of a mountain of emails that sparked the investigation into Andrew.
The line between Giuffre’s sexual abuse accusations and the misconduct allegations against Andrew may not be a straight one, but the family seems to recognize that the connection is unmistakable.
“He was never a prince,” the family wrote. “For survivors everywhere, Virginia did this for you.”
In the video, Vicky and I discuss the timeline that led to Andrew’s arrest and unpack the reality that the first criminal prosecution to result from the release of 3.5 million files took place overseas.
