Emeritus Harvard Law Prof. Alan Dershowitz, who helped put together financier Jeffrey Epstein’s controversial plea deal on sex abuse charges in Florida more than a decade ago, still is involved in a messy dispute with one of Epstein’s victims, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, reports The New Yorker. In 2014, Giuffre set up a foundation, Victims Refuse Silence, to help survivors of sexual abuse and trafficking. She claimed that Epstein had abused her, and had trafficked her to powerful friends, including Jean-Luc Brunel, a modelling agent, Prince Andrew, and Dershowitz.
Dershowitz began an urgent campaign to clear his name, which has lasted almost five years. In April, Giuffre sued Dershowitz for defamation. If the case goes to court, it may reveal substantial new information about the long-running dispute. Giuffre told The New Yorker, “I know he’s going to put up a good fight. But, at the end of it, I know we’re gonna win. We’ve got the truth on our side.” Dershowitz was equally assured. “I will proclaim my absolute innocence until the day I die,” he tells the magazine. “I have asked the FBI.to attend the trial, because it’s a hundred per cent certain that perjury will be committed.” He added, “This will be the central part of my defense—that this was a frameup against me. I’m actually writing a book, ‘Suitable for Framing.’ ”