NEW YORK (Legal Newsline) – New York attorney Alan Dershowitz is being sued for his allegedly defamatory statements toward a victim of sex trafficking.
Virginia L. Giuffre (formerly known as Roberts), sued Dershowitz in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on April 16 citing defamation.
According to the lawsuit, the plaintiff was a victim of Dershowitz’s client, Jeffrey Epstein. According to a February 2016 ruling written by U.S. District Judge Kenneth Marra of the Southern District of Florida, Epstein had more than 30 victims that he sexually abused in his mansion from 1999 to 2007. Giuffre's suit states that Epstein "acted in concert" with Dershowitz.
Giuffre alleged she was “recruited to provide massages, and thereafter to engage in a variety of sexual acts, for Epstein,” according to the lawsuit.
She alleges Dershowitz was not just Epstein’s attorney, but also his friend and co-conspirator. She alleges Epstein "lent" her out to conduct sexual acts with Dershowitz.
Her lawsuit stems from comments Dershowitz allegedly made while defending Epstein after he was arrested for sex trafficking in 2006. Epstein later pleaded guilty and had a non-prosecution agreement, but in the heat of the case, Dershowitz called the victims “liars and prostitutes,” the lawsuit states.
The suit states after the Miami Herald published a series of articles 2018 about Dershowitz and Epstein, Dershowitz fired back with defaming attacks against the plaintiff and said she committed perjury and that she and her legal team came up with a plan to falsely accuse him in an attempt to extort a settlement from another party.
The plaintiff alleges he also claimed, “I never met Roberts; I never had sex with her, she simply made up the entire story for money.” He also called Roberts a “certified, complete, total liar” and said he had evidence she concocted the entire thing, the suit states.
She alleges she has suffered lots of verbal attacks after Dershowitz’s statements against her, which she alleges are completely false. She also alleged he committed libel per se since he accused her of committing a crime - perjury.
She requests a trial by jury. She is represented by Joshua Schiller of Boies Schiller Flexner in New York and by Sigrid McCawley of Boies Schiller Flexner of Fort Lauderdale, Florida.