Virginia Giuffre, who became one of the most powerful voices against Jeffrey Epstein’s global sex trafficking ring and accused Britain’s Prince Andrew of sexual abuse, has died by suicide at the age of 41, her family confirmed.
She passed away at her farm in Neergabby, Western Australia.
“It is with utterly broken hearts that we announce that Virginia passed away last night at her farm in Western Australia,” her family said in a statement. “She lost her life to suicide, after being a lifelong victim of sexual abuse and sex trafficking”, the statement added.
Giuffre, originally from Florida, was widely recognised as the face of the movement to bring Epstein and his enablers to justice.
As per NBC News, she was one of the first survivors to publicly name Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, providing critical information that aided multiple investigations, including the one that led to Maxwell’s 2021 conviction.
“Virginia was a fierce warrior in the fight against sexual abuse and sex trafficking. She was the light that lifted so many survivors,” her family said. “In the end, the toll of abuse is so heavy that it became unbearable for Virginia to handle its weight”, her family added.
In 2021, Giuffre filed a federal lawsuit against Prince Andrew, alleging that he sexually abused her when she was 17 after being trafficked to him by Epstein and Maxwell. The prince denied the allegations but settled the case out of court for an undisclosed sum in 2022, without admitting liability.
Giuffre had earlier testified in Paris against Jean-Luc Brunel, the late French modelling agent who was accused of sexual abuse and also linked to Epstein. “I wanted Brunel to know that he no longer has the power over me,” she said after her 2021 testimony.
Her brother, Danny Wilson, was quoted by NBC News as saying that Giuffre had been struggling with physical and mental pain. “She was in real physical pain — suffered from renal failure. But I think that the mental pain was worse,” he said.
Her lawyer, Sigrid McCawley, described her as “a dear friend and an incredible champion for other victims,” while her representative, Dini von Mueffling, said she was “one of the most extraordinary human beings I have ever had the honour to know.”
In her earlier appeals, Giuffre had urged authorities to listen. ‘Take us serious, we matter”, she had told NBC’s Dateline.
Epstein died by suicide in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial. Maxwell was convicted on five counts of sex trafficking in 2021. Brunel also died by suicide in prison in 2022.
