We have been following the scandal involving the case of sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein (left). Epstein was accused of being a sex trafficker for powerful men ranging from former President Bill Clinton to Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz. Dershowitz has called his accuser a perjurer and recently declared that he wanted to be sued for defamation. He has now gotten his wish. Dershowitz will now face a trial on the merits of the allegation after Boies Schiller filed the requested defamation action against him.
Dershowitz recently declared “I hereby accuse my false accusers of committing the felony of perjury and challenge them to sue me for defamation.”
The attorneys responded by filing an action on behalf of Virginia (Roberts) Guiffre who was accused by Dershowitz of lying about having sex with him at the direction of Epstein.
I have previously criticized the handling of the case against Epstein and recently called upon Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta to resign in light of the findings of a federal court that he violated federal law in giving Epstein a ridiculously light plea deal. The deal came as various powerful figures were being named as travelers on Epstein’s infamous “Lolita Express” flights to his private estate on the Caribbean island of Little Saint James with young girls who allegedly were used as prostitutes. Epstein was known for his preference for young women and powerful figures like Clinton were repeat guests.
Despite a strong case for prosecution, Epstein’s lawyers, including Dershowitz and Ken Starr, were able to secure an absurd deal with prosecutors. He was accused of abusing more than forty minor girls (with many between the ages of 13 and 17). Epstein was allowed to plead guilty to a Florida state charge of felony solicitation of underage girls in 2008 and served a 13-month jail sentence. The Senate then approved the man who cut that disgraceful deal, former Miami U.S. attorney Alexander Acosta, as labor secretary. The Senate did not seem to care that Acosta betrayed these victims and protected a serial abuser.
Boies represents both Guiffre and another victim, Sarah Ransome, who previously sued Dershowitz for defamation for calling her a liar for claiming that Epstein directed her to have sex with Dershowitz while she was a minor. In that case, Dershowitz claimed that Boies was the “perpetrator” of a scheme to discredit him. That case settled on confidential terms.
In a two-page affidavit accompanying the complaint, Epstein’s former employee Maria Farmer supports the allegations: “Alan Dershowitz was an individual who came to visit Epstein at his New York mansion a number of times when I was working for Epstein. Dershowitz was very comfortable at the home and would come in and walk upstairs. On a number of occasions, I witnessed Dershowitz at the NY mansion going upstairs at the same time there were young girls under the age of 18 who were present upstairs in the house.”
Giuffre alleges that Dershowitz asserted that her own lawyers did not believe her claims against him and that she knowingly perjured herself as part of an extortion scheme. The complaint states that “Dershowitz has repeatedly, publicly claimed that he wanted to have a trial that would determine the facts concerning his conduct. Mr. Dershowitz now has what he claims to have been looking for.”
Here is the complaint: Guiffre complaint