Virginia Roberts Giuffre's defamation case to proceed
Jeffrey Epstein accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre’s defamation case against Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz can proceed, judge rules
- District Judge rejected Alan Dershowitz’s efforts to toss out defamation lawsuit
- Virginia Roberts Giuffre said Epstein trafficked her to men including Dershowitz
- She sued Dershowitz for defamation after he called her ‘serial perjurer’ and ‘liar’
A woman who went public with claims she was a teenage victim of Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking ring can move forward with her defamation lawsuit against Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz, a judge ruled on Wednesday.
US District Judge Loretta A. Preska rejected Dershowitz’s efforts to toss out the lawsuit, but she granted his request to disqualify Boies Schiller Flexner LLP from the case.
Virginia Roberts Giuffre has claimed Epstein trafficked her to several prominent men as a teenager, including Dershowitz. She alleges she had sex with him on several occasions, a claim he vehemently denies.
Giuffre sued Dershowitz for defamation after he publicly denied ever meeting her and called her a ‘serial perjurer,’ a ‘serial liar,’ and a ‘serial prostitute’ in interviews with major media outlets.
US District Judge Loretta A. Preska rejected Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz’s effort to toss out a defamation lawsuit made against him on Wednesday
Dershowitz had sought to dismiss the case on several grounds, including that the statute of limitations had passed.
Giuffre’s allegations drew new attention after Epstein was charged in New York this summer with sexually abusing dozens of girls. Epstein killed himself in August in his cell at a federal lockup adjacent to Manhattan federal court.
Preska wrote that disqualification of Boies Schiller Flexner LLP – the law firm representing Giuffre – was ‘clearly required’ because members of the firm could be called as witnesses at a trial.
Dershowitz has said he secretly recorded David Boies, a prominent attorney with the firm, casting doubt on the veracity of Giuffre’s claims.
Virginia Roberts Giuffre (middle), who claims Jeffrey Epstein trafficked her to several men including Dershowitz, sued him for defamation after he called her a ‘serial perjurer’
Dershowitz also branded Giuffre (middle) a ‘serial liar,’ and a ‘serial prostitute’ in interviews with major media outlets
Boies said the call was recorded without his consent and that Dershowitz has mischaracterized their conversation.
‘The advocate-witness rule prohibits an attorney from representing a party where the attorney will be called as a witness,’ Preska said.
Dershowitz on Wednesday called the ruling a ‘significant victory.’
‘It clears us to put David Boies at the center of this conspiracy,’ he said. ‘We’re going to prove that my accuser had repeatedly told people that she did not have sex with me until she met her lawyers. Her lawyers pressured her into saying she had sex with me, and they’re key witnesses.’
‘I will continue to call [Giuffre] a liar and a perjurer,’ he added.
In a statement, Sigrid McCawley of Boies Schiller Flexner said the firm will promptly appeal Preska’s ruling. She called the judge’s decision to disqualify her firm ‘deeply disappointing.’
‘The defamation case against Alan Dershowitz is going forward and he will have to face justice,’ McCawley said.
Giuffre said in a statement that she was grateful that Preska denied Dershowitz’s ‘shameful attempt to dismiss my defamation case against him.’
‘I will no longer be silenced. I will no longer be shamed,’ she said. ‘I will see Alan Dershowitz in a court of law. But I am dismayed by the Court’s decision in this case to deprive me of my counsel.’
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