Home Business David Boies files defamation suit against Dershowitz over Epstein ties – Business Insider

David Boies files defamation suit against Dershowitz over Epstein ties – Business Insider

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David Boies files defamation suit against Dershowitz over Epstein ties – Business Insider

Lawyer David Boies is suing fellow lawyer and emeritus Harvard professor Alan Dershowitz for defamation, marking a new phase in the war between them and in Dershowitz’s legal fallout over his association with Jeffrey Epstein.Boies represented Virginia Giuffre, an Epstein accuser, in her own defamation lawsuit against Dershowitz. Giuffre said Dershowitz had sex with her when she was underage. Dershowitz denied it and called her a liar, which Giuffre says amounts to defamation.Dershowitz successfully convinced a judge to kick Boies off the case. But Boies isn’t done. He’s accusing Dershowitz of defaming him by alleging he convinced Giuffre to make up the allegations.Dershowitz and his lawyer told Insider that Boies is just upset he was kicked off the case. They say they plan to use the lawsuit to publicize Boies’s ties to Theranos and Harvey Weinstein, which he has also defended.Meanwhile, Giuffre’s case against Dershowitz is moving forward with a new powerful lawyer, Charles Cooper.Read more stories like this on Insider.Alan Dershowitz’s legal battles over one of Jeffrey Epstein’s accusers has entered a new phase.The lawyer and emeritus Harvard professor is facing a new defamation lawsuit from fellow lawyer David Boies, who Dershowitz successfully got kicked off a separate defamation case involving his accuser, Virginia Giuffre.Giuffre, one of the first women to publicly accuse Epstein of sexual misconduct, alleges that Dershowitz repeatedly had sex with her in Epstein’s residences in the 2000s. Dershowitz was friends with Epstein in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and was a member of the legal team that got Epstein only a short jail stint after he pleaded guilty to state charges of soliciting a minor for prostitution in 2008.Dershowitz denies Giuffre’s misconduct allegations. He says Boies cooked them up as part of a larger plot to take Dershowitz down and extort money from Leslie Wexner, the billionaire owner of Victoria’s Secret who was close to Epstein for decades.Boies has long denied Dershowitz’s claims. And in his new lawsuit, he says they amount to defamation.”Defendant has been the long-time friend and lawyer for convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein; he has also been personally accused under oath by two women of sexually abusing them when they were young,” Boies writes in his lawsuit. “In an effort to distract attention from his own misconduct, Defendant has engaged in a campaign to attack and vilify each of the lawyers who have represented his victims.”

A person close to Wexner denied that any extortion attempt was made. In recent months, Wexner has distanced himself from Epstein, accusing him of stealing $46 million from him.Dershowitz says Boies is just trying to get revengeOn a separate front, Dershowitz is still battling Giuffre’s lawsuit in a federal court in New York. With Boies representing her, she also sued Dershowitz for defamation in April, alleging that his claims that she is a liar amount to defamation.Dershowitz has fought the lawsuit in both the press and in court. In October, he successfully persuaded the judge to boot Boies and his law firm from the case because he planned to call Boies himself as a witness if it went to trial. Dershowitz has also filed multiple bar complaints against Boies in an effort to get him disbarred on ethical grounds. Boies is a controversial figure in his own right, in part for trying to quash the Wall Street Journal’s reporting on Theranos and attempting to shut down reporting on Harvey Weinstein’s alleged sexual abuse.

Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell in 2005.

Joe Schildhorn/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images

Arthur Aidala, one of Dershowitz’s attorneys in both the Giuffre and Boies cases — and who, in a strange twist of fate, also represents Harvey Weinstein — told Insider that Boies filed the lawsuit because he’s upset about being kicked off the Giuffre case.”The lawsuit filed by David Boies is a petty move reeking of personal animus,” Aidala said. “Alan is ready to fight and aggressively defend against this lawsuit. We will have the opportunity to seek discovery directly from Boies, and it completely opens the door to exploring all issues involving Boies’ actions pertaining to Virginia Giuffre and others.”

Virginia Giuffre and David Boies.
Shannon Stapleton / Reuters

Dershowitz said he welcomes the lawsuit, and plans to use it to interrogate Boies about his work for Theranos, Weinstein, and the “slut-shaming” lawsuit against novelist Emma Cline.Boies has reportedly employed Black Cube, a private intelligence firm, to spy on women accusing Harvey Weinstein of sexual abuse and the journalists investigating their allegations. Dershowitz says the issue is fair game for questioning on the stand. He also maintains that Boies sought hush money from Wexner.”Thankfully, truth is a defense against defamation, and we will prove that everything I said about him is true, and what he has said about me is false,” Dershowitz told Insider. “He has opened up a Pandora’s box that endangers him and his law firm. I welcome the opportunity for the public to finally learn the sad truth about Boies and his firm.”Giuffre also has a new top-tier lawyer representing herWithout Boies at her side, Giuffre’s lawsuit is still advancing.Her new legal team includes Charles Cooper, the high-powered conservative lawyer who is also representing John Bolton in the impeachment probe into President Donald Trump, and who represented Jeff Sessions during the Russia investigation. Two other lawyers from his firm, Haley Proctor and Michael Kirk, are also on her team.

Charles Cooper and Jeff Sessions in 2017.
Joshua Roberts / Reuters

Dershowitz filed a lengthy rebuttal to her original lawsuit on Thursday, denying that he made any defamatory statements about her and accusing Giuffre of defamation.Cooper called the claims “stale.”Giuffre has also pushed to hold Epstein’s former friend Prince Andrew of Britain accountable. She has accused him of having sex with her when she was 17 — claims that Buckingham Palace denies. Giuffre told “60 Minutes” in a recent interview that Prince Andrew should “go to jail.””I was trafficked to other billionaires. I was trafficked to other politicians,” she said. “They should be named and they should be shamed. What they’ve done is horrific.”Read more:A sexual misconduct allegation from one of Jeffrey Epstein’s victims sparked a quiet war between two of America’s most powerful lawyers. Now it’s about to blow up.Alan Dershowitz says a new memoir from his accuser proves his innocence, but she’s not dropping her lawsuit against himJohn Glenn was a passenger on Jeffrey Epstein’s private jet in 1996, according to unsealed flight recordsA victim of Jeffrey Epstein says Prince Andrew bought her vodka at a London club when she was 17 before having sex with her 

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