Prince Andrew has reportedly sold a Swiss chalet, the only property the third child of Queen Elizabeth owned, in order to settle a $9 million lawsuit. This comes amid claims that Andrew was served with paperwork for a different suit filed by a victim of Jeffrey Epstein against the disgraced royal. Andrew has been under increased scrutiny since being accused of engaging in sex traficking with the dead Epstein.
Prince Andrew Solves One Legal Problem As Another Looms
According to a report out of the Times Of London, Prince Andrew has decided to sell his $23.7 million ski resort chalet in Switzerland in order to settle a lawsuit filed against him and ex-wife Sarah Ferguson that accused the two of failing to pay $9 million on the property. Andrew bought the estate in 2014 with Ferguson to be a “long-term family investment,” a friend of Andrew’s reportedly told the outlet.
Andrew bought the chalet at the time for $22.75million. Isabelle de Rouvre, the ex-owner, accused Andrew and Ferguson of not making the final $9 million payment. Now that the British prince and his ex-wife are close to selling the chalet for $23.7 million, however, de Rouvre has dropped the legal action as they’ve agreed to use the funds to pay off the remaining debt.
A source close to the situation told the paper, “Court action has been withdrawn and the matter is close to being resolved to everybody’s mutual satisfaction.” Now that the property is close to selling, it’s believed that Andrew will be left without any remaining owned properties.
Prince Andrew’s Other Lawsuit
At the moment, he and Ferguson reside on the queen’s Windsor estate. The Crown Estates Commissioners owns the residence. This is the institution responsible for running royal properties. Now that Andrew has wrapped up this legal dispute, he’ll be able to turn his full attention to his upcoming battle against a lawsuit filed by Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who has accused him of sexual assault.
Andrew recently acknowledged, via his lawyer, that he’d been served with papers for the suit. The lawyer went on to call the accusations against Andrew “baseless, nonviable and potentially unlawful.” This is no surprise, as Andrew has long denied the allegations against him, including in an ill-advised interview with the BBC.
Despite his denials Prince Andrew has been forced to resign from his royal duties due to the allegations. Although the lawsuit is still in its early stages, it should heat up quickly and produce fascinating results.