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Virginia Giuffre was trying to reclaim control.
In early January 2025, she was allegedly assaulted by her husband, Robbie Giuffre, during a family holiday in Dunsborough, Western Australia. Robbie then secured a family violence restraining order against Virginia, which banned the prominent Epstein accuser from contacting her two youngest children for six months.
It also meant she was not allowed to go to the family’s beachfront home in Perth, which is where her belongings – including important documents, her memoir manuscript, jewellery and mementos – were kept. So Virginia decided to take back some control and spoil herself.
Virginia’s carer, Cheryl Myers, estimates the mother of three spent about $100,000 at luxury jeweller Linneys, and a local pearl retailer, on jewellery for her mother, and diamond rings and necklaces for herself.
She had the money to splurge. As Good Weekend senior writer and Walkley Award-winner Melissa Fyfe and WAtoday journalist Carla Hildebrandt reveal in The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald’s four-part investigative podcast, Virginia, the payments Virginia received from various confidential settlements with prominent people – such as the man formerly known as Prince Andrew – came to the equivalent of $US25 million ($35.6 million).
What’s remarkable about this shopping spree is not the amount of money Virginia spent. Rather, as Fyfe and Hildebrandt reveal in episode four of Virginia – out today – it’s that, more than a year on from Virginia’s death, no one seems to know where the jewellery is.
“Everybody wants to know about the jewellery,” says Myers. “A couple of days after Virginia had passed, one of Virginia’s friends called me, and asked me, ‘Where was the jewellery?’ And I was like, ‘I’ve got no idea’.
“She said, ‘Well, we’ve been to the house, me and Rob, and we’ve looked everywhere for the jewellery, and we can’t find any’. And I said, ‘Well, I don’t know’.”
But the jewellery is only one part of the puzzle. Virginia also had a chunk of money in cryptocurrency, and now no one knows what happened to that investment.
Following Virginia’s suicide in April 2025, the rift between her family in the United States, including her two brothers, and Robbie worsened.
They are now embroiled in a legal battle over Virginia’s estate, which is estimated to be worth up to $30 million, including the compensation payments, assets, investment properties and book royalties.
Virginia, whose divorce from Robbie had not been finalised before her death, died without a valid will. She was supposed to sign it on April 26, 2025 – the day after she died – and had marked this date on the magnetic whiteboard on her fridge.
Myers and Virginia’s Perth lawyer, Karrie Louden, say Virginia had an “informal will” expressed to Louden and also emailed to her accountant in February 2025.
“I don’t want Robbie blowing my children’s money on himself.”
Virginia Giuffre’s diary notes, written before her death
This is backed by Virginia’s brothers and their wives. The “informal will” stipulates a small amount of money going to Virginia’s family and friends, including Myers and her brothers, but the bulk to her children and a small amount to Robbie. They say she wanted the money held in trust until the kids turned 25.
According to court filings, Virginia’s sons Christian and Noah – backed by their father – are arguing their mother lacked “testamentary capacity” when the informal will was created.
If Christian and Noah win, Robbie stands to inherit just over a third of what’s left after the divorce settlement, with the remainder divided between the three children: Christian, Noah, and their daughter.
That would make Robbie the main beneficiary, and most likely the administrator of Virginia’s worldwide estate.
“What a terrible, tragic story that everything that she fought for against monsters of sexual assault on the most powerful level, every single dollar is going to go back into the hands of her final abuser, and that’s the last chapter,” says Sky Roberts.
“Can we imagine that that’s the way the story ends? Because I can’t, and I can’t live with that.”
Listen to the fourth episode of Virginia – where hosts Fyfe and Hildebrandt reveal Virginia’s arrest weeks before her death, the real story behind the bus crash that prompted Virginia to tell the world she had days to live, the complicated truth behind her posthumous memoir, and how Virginia’s suicide is part of a wider, systemic problem that is impacting other Australian women – in the player above, wherever you get your podcasts, or click here.
A statement from Robbie Giuffre’s lawyers says the following: “What appears to be an orchestrated attempt by persons to gain financially from Virginia’s death by making unsubstantiated allegations, when they should have been aware of Virginia’s medical conditions, is simply disgraceful.
“In the late Virginia Giuffre’s book published and titled Nobody’s Girl, Virginia praised and thanked Robert for his support of her throughout their marriage and in particular, her struggle to be heard.”
If you or anyone you know needs support, you can contact the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service on 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732), Lifeline 131 114, or Beyond Blue 1300 224 636.
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Carla Hildebrandt is a journalist with WAtoday. She previously worked on ABC’s Four Corners and as a court reporter at The Daily Telegraph in Sydney. For secure contact: carlahildebrandt@proton.me.Connect via email.From our partners
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