PRINCE Andrew faces being quizzed over rape allegations in weeks, followed by a court showdown with his accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre as early as next September.
District Judge Lewis Kaplan spoke to lawyers for both sides to set a trial date days after rejecting the royal’s bid to have the case thrown out.
Virginia, now 38, has filed a bombshell civil lawsuit in Manhattan accusing him of forcing her to have sex when she was Jeffrey Epstein‘s teen sex slave.
The Duke of York, 61, vehemently denies her allegations.
Last week his attack dog lawyers hit back after months of silence, branding her a “money-hungry sex kitten” seeking another “payday”.
They also alleged she was part of Epstein’s trafficking ring and worked to find “sl*tty girls” for the paedo financier to abuse.
Today Judge Kaplan held a short hearing by phone conference and said the two sides should prepare for trial as early as September.
He said: “I will look at the possibility of September, but in any case October through December as being the target here.”
Andrew also faces being quizzed for the first time over the allegations, the court heard.
Depositions in the civil case — formal recorded interviews with lawyers that form part of the evidence — will begin in the coming weeks.
Up to a dozen witnesses on both sides will be interviewed, including “the two named parties”.
Two unnamed witnesses live in the UK and it could need the US court to issue a formal request to the UK authorities to ensure their co-operation.
But Virginia’s lawyers have said they are hopeful the witnesses will speak to them voluntarily.
‘STONEWALLING’
The lawsuit is separate from the ongoing criminal probe into Epstein, who hanged himself in jail aged 66 in 2019.
The Queen’s second son has so far failed to meet FBI agents who say they want to speak to him about his former friend.
Joe Biden’s office even issued a rare statement amid claims of transatlantic frustration at his “stonewalling”.
Virginia has claimed Prince Andrew forced her to have sex at the London home of Epstein’s alleged “madam” Ghislaine Maxwell.
She also claims he abused her at Epstein’s mansion in Manhattan and on his private retreat in the US Virgin Islands.
Trying to have the lawsuit thrown out last week, Andrew’s attorney said he “unequivocally denies Giuffre’s false accusations against him”.
The lawyer also claimed Virginia was “head b***h” who helped Maxwell procure victims, and accused her of seeking “another payday”.
Her lawyer Sigrid McCawley hit back: “If she had stood silent in the face of outrageous statements like Prince Andrew churns out routinely, the decades-long sex trafficking ring his friend Jeffrey Epstein operated would never have been exposed.
“On the subject of money, let’s be clear — the only party to this litigation using money to his benefit is Prince Andrew.”
Maxwell is currently in custody awaiting criminal trial over her alleged role in Epstein’s trafficking ring.
