The family of Virginia Giuffre have raised questions over millions of pounds apparently missing from her estate.
Giuffre, the most prominent victim of Jeffrey Epstein, died by suicide at her home in Western Australia in April without lodging a signed will, triggering a battle over the finances she left behind.
She was thought to have amassed more than £16 million ($22 million) in settlements and compensation payments in relation to the abuse she suffered at the notorious paedophile billionaire’s hands.
That includes the reported £9 million ($12 million) she was paid to settle a claim against Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, who denies claims he sexually assaulted her when she was a teenager.
But court documents filed by Giuffre’s sons Christian, 19, and Noah, 18, value it at just £233,000 ($472,000 AUD).
The estate includes an unspecified amount held in a family trust, a ranch, two cars, a horse, some jewellery and the potential royalties from her posthumous memoir Nobody’s Girl.
But Giuffre’s lawyer, Karrie Louden, and her former carer and housekeeper Cheryl Myers, have filed a counterclaim suggesting the real value is higher.
In addition to payouts from the royal family, Giuffre received money from the Epstein Victims’ Compensation Fund as well as compensation from Ghislaine Maxwell and JP Morgan, Epstein’s bank.
Much of the money from the various settlements is thought to have been paid into the Witty River Family Trust, which lists Giuffre and her husband Robert as co-directors with equal shares.
It has led to questions as to whether millions of pounds may have been spent or transferred from the trust to another bank account, The Times reports.
A source told the Telegraph: ‘Hopefully, the court will order a full forensic audit of her estate.’
Giuffre’s family are fighting to stop her husband, who filed for divorce two months before she died, from receiving the money.
He could be entitled to a third of her estate under Australian law.
Giuffre sent an email with the subject line ‘implied will’ to the family trust’s manager in the months before her death requesting the money go to her children, with specific parameters, along with other family members and Ms Myers.
That unsigned document is at the heart of the court battle.
The next hearing in the case is listed for February 13.
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