Welp. This isn’t a good look for the Duke and Duchess of York!
According to new legal documents obtained by Radar Online on Monday, a billionaire associate of Prince Andrew’s ex-wife Sarah Ferguson has been accused of funding a sex trafficking ring! Uhhh, yikes!
The billionaire in question is 72-year-old Trammell Crow, a real estate tycoon who inherited the Texas-based company Trammell Crow Company from his father of the same name. Per the report, he was just named in a lawsuit filed in the US by two California women.
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According to DailyMail.com, the docs were filed in November with the two accusers, Julia Hubbard and Kayla Goedinghaus, going against Crow and his associates. The women claimed the sex trafficking ring was run by Richard Hubbard, who was provided “with the essential financial assistance and influence” from Crow, which was “key to the venture’s existence and long-running success.”
But Trammell isn’t just accused of being the cash behind the operation, he also had hands-on involvement with the criminal activity, or so the plaintiffs claim. The women allege Crow used “force, threats of force, fraud, or coercion to compel Hubbard and Goedinghaus to engage in commercial sex acts.” Julia and Kayla also say Crow was involved with sex parties. Per the suit:
“Crow maintained what he called lingerie rooms in each property he owned in which he kept a variety of lingerie for female guests to wear, as well as what he called ‘stripper shoes’.”
Trammell was also accused of forcing the women to take drugs (such as Xanax) “in order to force them to participate in sex acts.” Oof. So, so terrible.
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The entrepreneur’s attorney Ken Stone has already clapped back at the accusations. In a request to dismiss the lawsuit, Ken claimed the women were married or once in a relationship with the men they were now accusing in the lawsuit — arguing the filing was just done amid ongoing “domestic quarrels.” The legal filing states:
“Plaintiffs’ attempt to leverage their long-running domestic quarrels into federal human trafficking and (racketeering) claims is a cynical attempt to extract financial gain from persons who were unfortunate enough to cross paths with them.”
According to the filing, Julia met Trammell (who is worth $7.3 billion btw) while she “worked at a Dallas gentleman’s club.” They allegedly “became close friends” but there were “no allegations that Mr. Crow was ever romantically or sexually involved with Ms. Hubbard,” according to Stone. In the motion, the lawyer claimed the initial complaint failed to allege any sex trafficking crime against his client, but rather was meant to “smear” the billionaire’s reputation with “allegations concerning his lifestyle.” The attorney told The Sun:
“The story shared by the Plaintiffs is upsetting and paints a picture of numerous troubled and broken domestic relationships. We are certain this will be made clear in future legal proceedings.”
As for Fergie’s association with the alleged criminal, she’s definitely trying to play that down. According to her spokesperson, the pair met “once” at the Earth X conference, which Crow founded. The rep clarified:
“The Duchess has only met Crow once with others to discuss environmental issues. They met on one occasion in his capacity as the organizer of Earth X, the world’s biggest environmental gathering, and she was unaware of these allegations.”
It was a one-and-done interaction, the spokesperson assured:
“She has no plans to work with Crow or meet him again.”
Of course, this connection is particularly noteworthy considering Prince Andrew has infamously been linked to another convicted sex offender already. Jeffrey Epstein was not able to be prosecuted due to his untimely death, but considering his right-hand woman Ghislaine Maxwell (also a longtime pal of Andrew’s) was found guilty of sex trafficking crimes, it seems to follow he was guilty. But in that case Andrew didn’t just know the pair — he was accused of participating in the sex trafficking as well, as a woman named Virginia Giuffre Roberts has long claimed she was coerced into having sex with him multiple times, including when she was as young as 17.
Innerestingly, Fergie has been supportive of Andrew through all this. Frankly, she’s about the only one! So yeah, one can see why her just happening to be associated with another sex trafficking ring would be immediately suspect. Reactions?! Sound OFF (below)!
[Image via MEGA/WENN & BBC News/YouTube]
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