U.S. judge rejects Prince Andrew's bid to have Virginia Giuffre's sex abuse lawsuit dismissed

London — A U.S. district judge rejected a motion by Britain's Prince Andrew on Wednesday to dismiss a lawsuit brought by Virginia Giuffre that alleges he sexually abused her when she was 17. Andrew's lawyers argued that the suit should be thrown out because of a 2009 deal that Guiffre signed with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Judge Lewis Kaplan said the 2009 deal "cannot be seen" to benefit Andrew.

"Independent of whether the release language applies to Prince Andrew, the agreement, at a minimum, is 'reasonably susceptible to more than one interpretation' on the equally important question of whether this defendant may invoke it," Judge Kaplan said.