Nick Goldstone, head of dispute resolution at Ince Gordon Dadds LLP, said: “There are certain things where it is ludicrous for him to say he has insufficient information to admit or deny. Six months on, he has at least put forward a defence and that is interesting, but it does appear to be a boilerplate exercise, rather over-enthusiastically deployed.”
Among the allegations from Giuffre’s complaint that Andrew said he could not admit or deny were that:
- Andrew and convicted sex-trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell have been photographed at numerous social events together.
- Jeffrey Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida in 2008 to the charge of procuring a minor for prostitution.
- Andrew had been on Epstein’s private plane and stayed at some of his homes.
- The infamous photograph depicts Andrew, Giuffre and Maxwell at Maxwell’s home.
Goldstone said of the filing by Andrew’s lawyers: “It’s a ‘[throw in everything but the] kitchen sink’ exercise which I think is designed probably to show the world that he’s ready for a fight, whilst, in my view, he clearly isn’t ready for a fight. He shouldn’t be volunteered to be cross-examined on this pleading because it’s a nightmare. It’s not a defence or a response document that would fill me with fear if I was acting for the claimant. There has to be a way out of this for Andrew that will avoid a jury trial because a jury trial is a complete disaster.”