🟠 News Club - Vale Virginia Giuffre

Some stories stay with you - and for me, Virginia Giuffre’s is one of them. She took on billionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein and Prince Andrew, and as the most prominent of the women who alleged they were involved in sex trafficking and abuse of underage girls, it took a toll on her.

Vale Virginia Guiffre…

First, a warning. Today’s newsletter covers suicide and sexual abuse. If it raises issues for you, help is available via the services listed here.

You might have seen that Virginia Giuffre died on Friday by suicide. The woman who accused Prince Andrew, billionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell of sexual abuse was 41yo and is survived by her 3 children, Christian, Noah and Emily. 

American-born Giuffre, her Aussie husband Robert and their kids were living in Cairns until 2020 when they moved to Perth. Reports say Giuffre and her husband separated last year, and her social media posts in recent months showed she was struggling. 

Her family issued a statement that said her death came “after being a lifelong victim of sexual abuse and sex trafficking. In the end, the toll of abuse is so heavy that it became unbearable for Virginia to handle its weight.”

How terribly sad. 

Giuffre shot to prominence in 2019 just as we were getting our feet underneath us at The Squiz. As a result, her story has stuck with me because the events that unfolded as a result of her advocacy were extraordinary. 

This week’s Club Picks are designed to highlight how she did not stop until she was heard.

1. To get a handle on the scale of the scandal, Netflix’s docu-series Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich was released 5 years ago to rave reviews. As one said, it raised the question: “How perversely twisted is the American justice system that a Gatsby-esque billionaire, friends with such powerful figures as Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew and Donald Trump … could buy his way out of an almost certain life sentence for child sex abuse and trafficking?”

2. What blew it all up was Giuffre’s defamation lawsuit brought in 2015 against Ghislaine Maxwell. She settled the case, but in 2019, legal documents outlining the details of what was alleged to have happened were released to the media. One legal eagle involved said Giuffre was central to it all blowing up because of her “bravery at the beginning, inspiring so many other people to come forward.” Her interview with Nine’s 60 Minutes - one of the few she did - lays it out. 

3. Enter Prince Andrew… The disgraced Royal (who was sorta/kinda allowed back into the fold at Easter…) was one of the men Giuffre said abused her at Epstein and Maxwell’s invitation. His interview on BBC’s Newsnight attempting to defend himself will live in infamy.  

4. The iconic photo of Giuffre and Prince Andrew now has a place as one of the century’s most instantly recognisable. This piece from The Guardian on how it came to be is an interesting layer to the story. 

Giuffre may be gone, but the waves she created still reverberate… Legal cases galore are ongoing - Maxwell continues to appeal her 20-year prison sentence, and the Trump administration is under pressure to release the details of what the federal government and its investigative agencies know. 

Josh Schiffer, a lawyer who represents one of Epstein’s victims, says Giuffre’s loss “will hopefully be a marker and almost an inspiration for people to calling attention to the epidemic that is sex trafficking”.

What a legacy to leave.