Case 1:19-cv-03377 Document 1 Filed 04/16/19 Page 1 of 28
United States District Court
Southern District of New York
VIRGINIA L. GIUFFRE,
Plaintiff,
CASE NO:
v.
ALAN DERSHOWITZ,
Defendant.
________________________ /
COMPLAINT
Boies Schiller Flexner LLP
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Plaintiff, VIRGINIA L. GIUFFRE, formerly known as Virginia Roberts (“Roberts”), for
her Complaint against Defendant, Alan Dershowitz (“Dershowitz”) avers upon personal
knowledge as to her own acts and status and upon information and belief and to all other matters:
NATURE OF THE ACTION
1. This suit arises out of Defendant’s defamatory statements of and concerning
Plaintiff.
2. During 2000-2002, beginning when Plaintiff was 16, Plaintiff was the victim of
sex trafficking and abuse by convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
3. Epstein’s trafficking scheme involved recruiting young girls, often by claiming
they would be paid $200 for simply providing a massage to a wealthy billionaire. The young girl
would then be brought up to Epstein’s bedroom where Epstein would be on a massage table;
Epstein would then sexually abuse the girl. This same pattern was repeated numerous times with
numerous children.
4. “From between 1999 – 2007, Jeffrey Epstein sexually abused more than 30 minor
girls…in his mansion in Palm Beach Florida, and elsewhere in the United States and overseas…
In addition to his own sexual abuse of the victims, Epstein directed other persons to abuse the
girls sexually. Epstein used paid employees to find and bring minor girls to him. Epstein
worked in concert with others to obtain minors not only for his sexual gratification, but also for
the sexual gratification of others.” United States District Court Judge Marra February 21, 2016
Summary Judgement Order at 2, Case No.: 9:08-cv-80786 (internal citations omitted). One of
the persons with whom Epstein acted in concert was Dershowitz.
5. Like other minor children who came before and after her, Plaintiff was initially
recruited to provide massages, and thereafter to engage in a variety of sexual acts, for Epstein.
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Plaintiff was required to be on call for Epstein for sexual purposes and frequently traveled with
him both nationally and internationally. Plaintiff was regularly abused by Epstein and was lent
out by Epstein to others for sexual purposes.
6. Defendant Dershowitz was Epstein’s attorney, close friend, and co-conspirator.
Dershowitz was also a participant in sex trafficking, including as one of the men to whom
Epstein lent out Plaintiff for sex.
7. When Epstein was arrested for sex trafficking in 2006, Dershowitz defended his
friend and client by falsely attacking the veracity of his accusers, including calling the children
whom Epstein had abused (and, in the case of Plaintiff, the Defendant himself had also abused),
liars and prostitutes.
8. Despite his significant criminal activity, Epstein’s criminal charges were resolved
by a guilty plea to a single Florida state law charge and a non-prosecution agreement (a “NPA”)
with the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida. Unknown to the public and the
victims at the time, Epstein’s lawyers, including Dershowitz, were pressuring the Government to
commit to the NPA without informing the victims. Epstein’s multiple victims, including
Roberts, were kept in the dark and told to be “patient” while Dershowitz participated in the
drafting of the NPA and worked to protect Epstein and other “potential co-conspirators”
(including himself) from prosecution.
9. On July 7, 2008, a challenge to the NPA was brought on behalf of two of
Epstein’s victims (not including Plaintiff) based on the fact that, contrary to the requirements of
the Criminal Victims’ Rights Act (the “CVRA”), the NPA had been concealed from Epstein’s
victims.
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10. In December 2014, Roberts, who had not initially been part of the CVRA action,
was asked to, and did, provide information to Plaintiffs’ counsel in the CVRA case in which she
discussed her sex trafficking by Epstein. On December 31, 2014, Plaintiff’s counsel in the
CVRA proceeding (Brad Edwards and Paul Cassell) filed a Motion Pursuant to Rule 21 for
Joinder in the Action (“Joinder Motion”) on behalf of Roberts. Ms. Roberts’s joinder motion
described how she had been sexually trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein and was forced to have sex
with, among others, Alan Dershowitz.
11. Based on Plaintiff’s December 2014 filing, Dershowitz, as he had previously done
to Epstein’s victims, publically and viciously attacked plaintiff’s counsel in the CVRA actions,
Brad Edwards and Paul Cassell. Dershowitz, in nationally televised news interviews, wrongfully
claimed that Edwards and Cassell had engaged in unethical behavior warranting disbarment for
filing the Joinder Motion that described Dershowitz’s involvement with Epstein and Roberts.
Edwards, who is a prominent attorney for sexually abused women and children, and Cassell who
is a former United States District Court judge who left the bench to advocate for criminal
victims, sued Dershowitz for defamation. Edwards and Cassell asserted that the factual
allegations that Dershowitz had knowledge of and participated in Epstein’s criminal conduct
were entirely proper and well founded and that Dershowitz’s statements about Edwards and
Cassell were defamatory.
12. In April 2016 Dershowitz settled the Edwards and Cassell defamation claims
against him. As a condition of the settlement, Dershowitz required that the financial terms of the
settlement be kept confidential.
13. In November 2018, after conducting a lengthy investigation that involved
interviewing over eighty (80) women, the Miami Herald published the first in a series of articles
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exposing how Epstein and his lawyers had corrupted the legal system to obtain the NPA and
referring to Dershowitz’s sexual abuse of Roberts. Dershowitz’s response on behalf of himself
and his client and co-conspirator Epstein has been a desperate barrage of false and increasingly
defamatory attacks on Roberts. The purpose and effect of these attacks has been to damage
Robert’s reputation and credibility and to try to intimidate her into silence.
14. Defendant’s central assertion is that Roberts has committed perjury, and that in
December 2014, Roberts and her attorneys hatched a scheme to falsely accuse Dershowitz of sex
trafficking as part of a criminal attempt to extort a settlement from another party.
15. As Defendant and Epstein well knew, Dershowitz’s assertion was false.
Dershowitz and Epstein knew that Dershowitz had in fact had sex with Plaintiff. Dershowitz and
Epstein also knew that Roberts’s assertions about Dershowitz were not part of any criminal
extortion plot. Indeed, Dershowitz and Epstein knew that Roberts had identified Dershowitz as a
sexual predator years before December 2014.
16. Defendant’s knowledge of the falsity of his attacks on Roberts have not, however,
limited the scope or scale of those attacks.
17. Examples of Dershowitz’s knowingly false and malicious defamatory statements
made on behalf of himself and Epstein are:
(a)
November 28, 2018: “the story was 100% flatly categorically made up” and
“Roberts and her attorneys fabricated the assertion in order to get money from other
powerful, wealthy people”. (Exhibit 1, p. 8).
(b)
December 1, 2018: “I never met Roberts; I never had sex with her; she
simply made up the entire story for money”. (Exhibit 2).
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(c)
December 2, 2018: “I was ‘deliberately framed for financial reasons’”;
Roberts made her claims about Dershowitz “in order to obtain money from a
wealthy businessman and that Roberts had never previously included me among
the people with whom she claimed to have had sex”; “one of Roberts’ own lawyers
has acknowledged in front of witnesses that Roberts claims against me are ‘wrong’
‘simply wrong’”; “I never met Roberts; I never had sex with her; she simply made
up the entire story for money”. (Exhibit 3).
(d)
December 4, 2018: Plaintiff is a “certified, complete, total liar”; “I can prove
conclusively that she made the whole thing up”. At the same time Dershowitz
claimed “that the FBI recognized the evidence showed he was not where she said
he was”. (Exhibit 4).
(e)
December 5, 2018: “Roberts made up the accusations out of whole cloth in
order to obtain millions of dollars from Leslie Wexner” and “there is evidence that
directly proves I was framed. These include emails between Roberts and a
journalist, a book manuscript by Roberts and a legal brief that are smoking guns
showing that I was deliberately framed for financial reasons.” (Exhibit 5).
(f)
March 2, 2019: “My perjuring accusers are Virginia Roberts and Sarah
Ransome [who reported that Epstein lent her out to Dershowitz for sex at the same
time as Dershowitz was, at Epstein’s request, representing Ransome as her lawyer].
Both have long records of lying”. (Exhibit 6).
18. Dershowitz and Epstein knew Dershowitz’s assertions about Roberts, including
his assertions referenced in paragraph 17 above, were, and would be taken by persons who read
and heard them to be, specific statements of fact.
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19. Dershowitz has repeatedly, publically claimed that he wanted to have a trial that
would determine the facts concerning his conduct. He said on national television that he would
waive the statute of limitations so that Roberts could sue him for sex abuse. However, when
Robert’s counsel asked Dershowitz to do so, Dershowitz refused -- and continues to refuse.
20. Similarly, when Dershowitz was faced with an actual case brought by Edwards
and Cassell which would have determined the veracity of Roberts’ claims, Dershowitz settled to
avoid that determination.
21. More recently, Dershowitz, perhaps believing that Roberts who is now living with
her husband and children in Australia would not be prepared to engage in litigation, has again
taken to claiming publically that he demands a trial on the question of whether Roberts
committed perjury and made up her statements about him for money. For example on March 2,
2019: My “accusers are Virginia Roberts and Sarah Ransome…I hereby accuse my false
accusers of committing the felony of perjury and challenge them to sue me for defamation.”
(Exhibit 6).
22. Mr. Dershowitz now has what he claims to have been looking for.
JURISDICTION AND VENUE
23. This is an action for damages in an amount in excess of the minimum
jurisdictional limits of this Court.
24. This Court has jurisdiction over this dispute pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §1332
(diversity jurisdiction) in that Roberts and Dershowitz are citizens of different states and the
amount in controversy exceeds seventy-five thousand ($75,000), exclusive of interest and costs.
25. This Court has personal jurisdiction over Defendant. Defendant resides in New
York City; Defendant conducts regular business in New York City; and this action arose,
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defamatory statements were made, and abuse occurred, within the Southern District of New
York.
26. Venue is proper in this Court as (a) the cause of action arose within the
jurisdiction of this Court and (b) Defendant resides within this District.
PARTIES
27. Plaintiff is an individual who is a citizen of the State of Florida and a resident of
Australia.
28. Defendant Dershowitz is an individual who resides in the Southern District of
New York at 2 Tudor City Place Apt. 10EN, New York, New York 10017.
29. Jeffrey Epstein is an individual who resides in the Southern District of New York
at 9 East 71 st Street, New York, New York, 10021.
FACTUAL ALLEGATIONS
A. Epstein’s Sex Trafficking Enterprise
30. Plaintiff became a victim of sex trafficking and repeated sexual abuse after being
recruited by Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein when Plaintiff was under the age of
eighteen.
31. Between 2000 and 2002, Epstein sexually abused Roberts at numerous locations
including his mansions in West Palm Beach, Florida, New Mexico, the Virgin Islands, and this
District. Epstein also flew Roberts on his plane nationally and internationally numerous times
when she was under the age of 18. Only portions of the flight logs of Epstein’s private planes
are yet known, and Epstein also flew Roberts frequently on commercial airlines to meet him and
others. However, the chart below which shows Roberts’ flights on Epstein’s private plane from
the limited logs that are available illustrates the international scope of Epstein’s sex trafficking.
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32. Between 1999 and 2007, with the assistance of numerous co-conspirators, Epstein
abused more than thirty (30) minor underage girls, a fact confirmed by state and federal law
enforcement.
33. After years of abuse, Epstein sent Roberts to Thailand in September 2002. One of
Roberts’ assignments from Epstein was to bring a young girl back to Epstein in the United
States. Fearing for her life, and not wanting to subject another young girl to the abuse she was
forced to endure, Roberts fled from Thailand to Australia to escape from Epstein.
B. Dershowitz’s Role with Epstein and Abuse of Plaintiff
34. Dershowitz has been “a close friend of Mr. Epstein” for many years. (Exhibit 7).
In 2003, Dershowitz said “I’m on my 20 th book… The only person outside of my immediate
family that I send drafts to is Jeffrey.” “The Talented Mr. Epstein.” Vanity Fair 2003. (Exhibit
8). Dershowitz also described Epstein as his friend “I would be interested in him [Epstein] as a
friend if we had hamburgers on the boardwalk in Coney Island and talked about his ideas.”
“Vanity Fair Reminds US When Jeffrey Epstein Wasn’t a Creep.” The Atlantic Wire. June 21,
2011. Dershowitz frequently traveled with Epstein, including on Epstein’s private plane. In
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addition, Epstein’s employees have confirmed that Dershowitz visited Epstein’s Palm Beach and
New York City mansions often, would stay overnight, and was present when the victims of
Epstein’s sex trafficking were there. Dershowitz also visited Epstein’s other homes.
35. In addition to their close friendship, Dershowitz represented Epstein as his
attorney. On or about December 2, 2018, Dershowitz stated that he is still Epstein’s attorney
(Exhibit 9).
36. During the time period that Roberts was being trafficked by Epstein she was
forced to have sex with Alan Dershowitz. Roberts was forced to engage in sexual acts with
Dershowitz in, among other locations, Epstein’s mansion located at 9 East 71 st Street, New York,
New York 10021.
C. The Arrest and Prosecution of Epstein
37. Epstein ultimately pled guilty to procuring a minor for prostitution, and is now a
registered sex offender.
38. In September 2007, Epstein entered into a Non-Prosecution Agreement (“NPA”)
in which the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida agreed not to prosecute Epstein
for numerous federal sex crimes committed in that District.
39. In the NPA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida
additionally agreed that it would not institute any federal criminal charges against any potential
co-conspirators of Epstein.
40. Epstein flippantly referred to his sexual abuse of multiple minors, and the slap on
the wrist he had received for it, in a 2011 interview with the New York Post: “Billionaire pervert
Jeffrey Epstein is back in New York City – and making wisecracks about his just-ended jail stint
for having sex with an underage girl. ‘I am not a sexual predator, I’m an “offender,”’ the
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financier told The Post yesterday. “‘It’s the difference between a murderer and a person who
steals a bagel,’ said Epstein.” February 25, 2011, New York Post “Billionaire Jeffrey Epstein:
I’m a Sex Offender Not A Predator”.
D. The Criminal Victims’ Rights Act Proceeding
41. Rather than confer with the victims about the NPA, the U.S. Attorney’s Office
and Epstein, who was represented by Dershowitz at that time, agreed to a “confidentiality”
provision in the Agreement barring its disclosure to anyone—including Epstein’s victims. As a
consequence, the victims were not told about the NPA.
42. On July 7, 2008, a young woman identified as Jane Doe No. 1, one of Jeffrey
Epstein’s victims (other than Roberts), filed a petition to enforce her rights under the Crime
Victims’ Rights Act (“CVRA”), 18 U.S.C. ¶ 3771, alleging that the Government failed to
provide her the rights promised in the CVRA with regard to the plea arrangement with Epstein.
43. On February 21, 2019, the Court found that the victims’ rights had been violated
and granted summary judgment in favor of the victims finding: “It was a material omission for
the Government to suggest to the victims that they have patience relative to an investigation
about which it had already bound itself not to prosecute.” Order at 31. In its Order the Court
acknowledged that: “Jeffrey Epstein sexually abused more than 30 minor girls”. The Court also
found: “Among other provisions, the NPA expanded immunity to any ‘potential coconspirator’
of Epstein’s: ‘In consideration of Epstein’s agreement to plead guilty and to provide
compensation in the manner described above, if Epstein successfully fulfills all of the terms and
conditions of this agreement, the United States also agrees that it will not institute any criminal
charges against any potential co-conspirators of Epstein, including but not limited to Sarah
Kellen, Adriana Ross, Lesley Groff or Nadia Marcinkova… From the time the FBI began
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investigating Epstein until September 24, 2007 – when the NPA was concluded – the Office
never conferred with the victims about a NPA or told the victims that such an agreement was
under consideration.” Order at 2, 8.
E. Victims Refuse Silence
44. Ultimately, as a mother and one of Epstein’s many victims, Roberts concluded
that she should speak out about her sexual abuse experiences in hopes of helping others who had
also suffered from sexual trafficking and abuse, and of possibly protecting future potential
victims.
45. On December 23, 2014, Roberts incorporated an organization called Victims
Refuse Silence, Inc., a Florida not-for-profit corporation.
46. Roberts intended Victims Refuse Silence to change and improve the fight against
sexual abuse and human trafficking. The goal of her organization was, and continues to be, to
help survivors surmount the shame, silence, and intimidation typically experienced by victims of
sexual abuse, and to help others to escape becoming victims of sex trafficking.
F. Defendant Acted Maliciously to Defame, Discredit, and Intimidate Roberts
47. Dershowitz made his false and defamatory statements as set forth above on behalf
of himself and on behalf of his co-conspirator and client Epstein, in the Southern District of New
York and elsewhere, in a deliberate effort to maliciously discredit Roberts and silence her efforts
to expose the sexual abuse she suffered. Dershowitz and Epstein did so with the purpose and
effect of having others repeat such false and defamatory statements and thereby further
damaged Roberts’s reputation. Dershowitz and Epstein knew Dershowitz’s statements were
false.
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48. Dershowitz made his statements to discredit Roberts in concert with Epstein and
others, including Ghislaine Maxwell, one of Epstein’s long-time procurers, as part of a
conspiracy to discredit and try to silence Roberts. Epstein was particularly interested in
discrediting and silencing Roberts because he feared a reopening of a federal criminal
investigation of him.
49. Dershowitz made his statements pursuant to his conspiracy with Epstein and
Maxwell maliciously as part of an effort to conceal sex trafficking crimes committed around the
world by Epstein and other powerful persons.
50. Dershowitz and Epstein intended Dershowitz’s false and defamatory statements
set out above to be broadcast around the world and to intimidate and silence Roberts from
making further efforts to expose sex crimes committed by Epstein and other powerful persons,
including Dershowitz.
51. Dershowitz and Epstein intended their false statements to be specific statements
of fact. Dershowitz’s false statements were, as he and Epstein intended, broadcast around the
world and were reasonably understood by those who heard them to be specific factual claims by
Dershowitz that he had not had sex with Roberts, that Roberts was intentionally lying about
having sex with Dershowitz, that Roberts committed the crime of perjury, that Roberts had
committed the crime of extortion, and that Roberts had intentionally fabricated her assertions
about Dershowitz to extort money from others.
52. Epstein also worked with other of his attorneys to attack Roberts’ allegations,
including in a false statement they made in a letter to the editor to the New York Times asserting:
“The number of young women involved in the investigation has been vastly exaggerated, there
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was no ‘international sex-trafficking operation’ and there was never evidence that Mr. Epstein
‘hosted sex parties’ at his home”. (Exhibit 10).
G. Dershowitz’s Lies
53. From the beginning, Dershowitz and Epstein have sought to hide their crimes
behind a curtain of lies. In response to Roberts’ description of Dershowitz’s participation in
Epstein’s sex trafficking, Dershowitz began a series of intentional, outright lies designed to
distance himself from Epstein, to cover up his own wrongdoing, and to discredit Roberts and
intimidate her into silence.
54. Dershowitz’s repeated lies are compelling evidence both of his lack of credibility
and his guilt. Only a person seeking to conceal improper conduct would have engaged in the
pattern of lies which has characterized Dershowitz’s statements since his sex trafficking was
revealed.
55. In attempt to conceal his relationship with Epstein, Dershowitz in January 2015
asserted that “my relationship with him was entirely professional. It is a total bum rap to say that
I…was ‘chummy’ with him”. (Exhibit 11). That was a lie, as Dershowitz and Epstein knew (see,
e.g., paragraphs 34-35).
56. Both to conceal Dershowitz’s relationship with Epstein, and to discredit Roberts,
Dershowitz has repeatedly asserted that he was only at Epstein’s residence once in Palm Beach,
and that was with his family. However, Juan Alessi, a long time Epstein household employee,
has confirmed that Dershowitz visited Epstein “pretty often. I would say at least four or five
times a year” and that he would “typically” stay two or three days. Similarly, Alfredo Rodriguez
who worked for Epstein approximately only six months confirmed that during that six months
period Dershowitz visited Epstein twice.
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57. Again, both to conceal his relationship with Epstein and to discredit Roberts,
Dershowitz has repeatedly asserted that he was never in Epstein’s residence in the presence of
young women. As both Dershowitz and Epstein know, that assertion was also false. As Mr.
Rodriguez has confirmed, there were “also young ladies in the house at the time he [Dershowitz]
was there”. Mr. Rodriguez also confirmed that “Mr. Dershowitz was there” when “women came
to Mr. Epstein’s home to give a massage”. Mr. Rodriguez also confirmed that “Alan Dershowitz
was at the house” with “the local Palm Beach girls” who he was “told to call masseuses”,
although he did not himself know whether or not Dershowitz personally received a massage.
58. Maria Farmer was an employee of Epstein responsible for “manning the front
door at his New York mansion and keeping records of people who came to the home” (Exhibit
12, ¶ 2).
(a)
Ms. Farmer “witnessed a number of school age girls coming to the house,
some of the young girls would be wearing their school uniforms”…who “then
would be escorted upstairs” (Exhibit 12, ¶ 3).
(b)
Ms. Farmer was told these young girls “were interviewing for modeling
positions” even though “it did not seem credible to me that these young girls were
interviewing for modeling positions”. (Exhibit 12, ¶ 3).
59. Ms. Farmer asserts that “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” (Exhibit 12, ¶
4).
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60. Ms. Farmer, like other victims of, and witnesses to, Epstein and Dershowitz’s sex
trafficking and abuse has been subjected to attacks and intimidations. (Exhibit 12, ¶¶ 8-9). Her
courageous testimony, together with the sworn testimony of victims such as Sarah Ransome and
witnesses such as Mr. Alessi and Mr. Rodriguez , proves beyond any doubt that Dershowitz’s
claims that he was never present where Ms. Roberts was trafficked, and never in the presence of
young girls, are a lie intended to cover up his culpability.
61. Again both to conceal his relationship with Epstein and to discredit Roberts,
Dershowitz has repeatedly asserted that he has records that prove that it would have been
“impossible” for him to be with Roberts because he was never in the same place and time as
Roberts. As both Dershowitz and Epstein know, that too was a lie. The testimony of Epstein’s
household staff establishes that Dershowitz was repeatedly at Epstein’s residence. Even
Dershowitz’s own selected, incomplete, and apparently revised, records demonstrate that
Dershowitz was present at locations where Ms. Roberts was with Epstein.
62. Dershowitz’s assertion that Roberts accused him of having sex with her only after
her lawyers convinced her to do so in late 2014 is not only false, as both Dershowitz and Epstein
knew, but thoroughly disproved by the record.
63. Roberts had identified Dershowitz as a participant in her sexual abuse at the time
it occurred. She did so again in 2009. In 2010 Epstein’s co-conspirators were repeatedly asked
about Dershowitz. For example:
(a)
Adriana Ross refused to answer on Fifth Amendment grounds whether
“Alan Dershowitz stays at Jeffrey Epstein’s house…when underage minor
females have been in the bedroom with Jeffrey Epstein”.
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(b)
Nadia Marcinkova refused to answer on Fifth Amendment grounds:
“Alan Dershowitz is also somebody that you also know to have been at the house
when L.M. was being sexually abused in Jeffrey Epstein’s bedroom, correct?”
64. In 2011 Counsel for Edwards wrote Dershowitz:
(a)
On August 23, 2011: “We…have reason to believe that you have
personally observed Jeffrey Epstein in the presence of underage females”.
(b)
On September 7, 2011: “Multiple individuals have placed you in the
presence of Jeffrey Epstein on multiple occasions and in various locations when
Jeffrey Epstein was in the company of underage females subsequently identified
as victims of Mr. Epstein’s criminal molestations.”
65. Dershowitz lied and stated that he had never flown on Jeffrey Epstein’s plane
with a young woman and always flew with his wife. (Hala Gorani, CNN Live, Jan. 5, 2015).
However, even the limited publically available flight logs of Jeffrey Epstein’s private plane
demonstrate that Dershowitz flew often on Epstein’s planes without his wife; with young
women, including a Victoria’s Secret model; Epstein’s procurer Ghislaine Maxwell; and Sarah
Kellen who was identified by the Government as Epstein’s co-conspirator in his sex trafficking.
66. Dershowitz also lied by saying that he “never” got a massage from anybody: “I
never got a massage from anybody. It’s made up out of whole cloth.” (NY Daily News, January
21, 2015). However, after it was revealed that Epstein’s household staff identified Dershowitz as
one of the recipients of “massages” at Epstein’s Palm Beach mansion, Dershowitz changed his
story and admitted he got a massage at Epstein’s Palm Beach home but claimed: “I kept my
underwear on during the massage.” (Local 10, January 22, 2015).
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67. Dershowitz lied and said he never saw any naked pictures of females in Epstein’s
Palm Beach home during his many visits, yet the police footage that was obtained from the
search of Epstein’s home proves that there were naked pictures of females throughout the home
including in the common areas.
68. In a desperate attempt to deflect attention from his own misconduct, Dershowitz
fabricated an extortion plot by Roberts and her lawyers. Dershowitz falsely told the media that
he was being used as a pawn as part of a fanciful plan to extort money from a billionaire business
mogul and colleague of Epstein. Dershowitz’s claim was that he was framed in order to send a
message to the billionaire that this is what would happen to the billionaire if the billionaire did
not pay Roberts and her attorneys. As Dershowitz knew:
(a)
(b)
(c)
No complaint was ever made against the billionaire.
No money was either paid or demanded by or from the billionaire.
Roberts’ assertions about Dershowitz long predated the time of the alleged
extortion plot.
69. Dershowitz also falsely claimed that Roberts’ lawyer had told him that he had
concluded that Roberts was “wrong” and “simply wrong” in accusing Dershowitz. Dershowitz,
in violation of the canons of ethics and in at least one case in violation of state law, had
surreptitiously tape recorded confidential settlement negotiations he had engaged in with Ms.
Roberts’ lawyer. Dershowitz then played and described excerpts from those tapes out of context
to reporters to try to make it appear that Ms. Roberts’ lawyer’s hypothetical comments, and
characterizations of Dershowitz’s assertions, represented that lawyer’s conclusions. As the sworn
testimony (Exhibit 13) of Dershowitz’s own lawyer, and the facts set forth below, demonstrate,
Dershowitz’s assertions about what Ms. Roberts’ lawyer said are, again, false.
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70. In May 2015 Dershowitz requested confidential settlement negotiations with Ms.
Roberts’ lawyers in which Dershowitz sought to convince Ms. Roberts lawyer that Ms. Roberts
was mistaken, and that the person to whom Epstein had lent Ms. Roberts was Nathan Myhrvold,
not Dershowitz. Dershowitz claimed that he had been at Epstein’s home only once (and that he
was there with his family); that he had never been in the vicinity of Epstein’s island; that he had
not been at Epstein’s New York mansion; and that he had been at Epstein’s New Mexico ranch
only once for a few hours (again with his family). Dershowitz provided a summary of his
whereabouts that purported to prove that his assertions were true.
71. Dershowitz was told that, based on what was shown in his summary, it would
have been impossible for Ms. Roberts’ assertions about him to be true, and that if his assertions
proved out, Ms. Roberts counsel would undertake to convince her that she must have made a
mistake.
(a)
Dershowitz was also told, however, (i) that his assertions would have to be
proven, (ii) that Ms. Roberts had always been very clear that she recalled having
had sex with Dershowitz multiple times, and (iii) that everyone was convinced
that Ms. Roberts was telling the truth as she recalled it.
(b)
Dershowitz responded that he did not doubt that Ms. Roberts was telling
the truth as she recalled it and that she would have no difficulty passing a lie
detector test. He said he simply believed Ms. Roberts had made an honest mistake
in confusing him with Nathan Myhrvold.
72. Following Dershowitz’ presentations, Dershowitz’s representations were
investigated and repeatedly proven false.
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(a)
Dershowitz’s alleged backup for his travel summary proved to be
incomplete and in some instances apparently altered.
(b)
Dershowitz’s key claim that he had not stayed at Epstein’s house was
proven false, including by the testimony of Epstein’s household employees Juan
Alessi (see ¶ 56 above) and Alfredo Rodriguez (see ¶¶ 56-57 above) as well as the
testimony of Sarah Ransome (Exhibit 14) and Maria Farmer (Exhibit 12).
(c)
Dershowitz’s claim that Ms. Roberts confused him with Nathan Myhrvold
was tested by showing Ms. Roberts pictures of both. She was, and is, clear that it
was Dershowitz, not Myhrvold, with whom she had sex.
(d)
Dershowitz’s claim he had never been on Epstein’s plane without his wife
was proven false by plane logs.
(e)
Dershowitz’s claim that he had never seen pictures of young females at
Epstein’s house was proven false by Palm Beach police and FBI reports.
(f)
Dershowitz’s claim that he had never been in the presence of young
females was proven false by the testimony of Epstein’s household employer (see
¶¶56-57) and of young women themselves (see Exhibit 14 [Ransome] and Exhibit
12 [Farmer].)
73. After Dershowitz’s claimed proof of exonerating evidence collapsed, and the
evidence of his guilt grew, Roberts’ lawyer’s told Dershowitz in writing that they “had
discovered evidence inconsistent with some of [your] representations”, that his travel “records
were incomplete”, and that he “should have settled the case when he had a chance”.
74. Roberts’ lawyer explicitly told Dershowitz that neither Roberts nor her lawyer
would make any statement saying or implying that Roberts was mistaken in her charge that
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Dershowitz participated in her sexual trafficking and abuse. In his public statements, Dershowitz
conspicuously omits any reference to the statements by Roberts’ lawyers after they had
investigated his representations and concluded that they were false.
75. Faced with the mounting evidence of his guilt, Dershowitz abandoned his attempt
to get Roberts or her lawyer to concede a mistake or that Roberts had been wrong, and
desperately sought even a suggestion that an error was “possible”.
76. In December 2015 Ms. Roberts’ counsel again told Mr. Dershowitz that “Virginia
is adamant about her current recollection” and that neither Ms. Roberts nor her counsel believed
she was mistaken in identifying Mr. Dershowitz as one of the men to whom Epstein had lent her
out for sex. In response, Mr. Dershowitz did not claim that Ms. Roberts lawyers had told him
that they did not believe her.
77. Instead, the morning of December 9, 2015, Mr. Dershowitz pleaded: “David,
Have we given up on a mutually acceptable statement from VR or you. Let’s keep trying. We are
not that far apart.” (Exhibit 15). When Ms. Roberts lawyer did not immediately respond, Mr.
Dershowitz wrote later the same day:
“We should be aiming at a short simple statement such as: “The
events at issue occurred approximately 15 years ago when I was a
teenager. Although I believed then and continued to believe that AD
was the person with whom I had sex, recent developments raise the
possibility that this may be a case of mistaken identification.”
(Exhibit 15).
Mr. Dershowitz went on to write: “It would be acceptable if the statement came from you rather
than her, if she prefers.” (Id.)
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78. Wholly absent at this point was any assertion by Mr. Dershowitz that Ms. Roberts
was lying, or that she made up her charge as part of an extortion claim, or that after investigating
his alleged evidence Ms. Roberts’ lawyer did not believe her. On the contrary, Mr. Dershowitz
expressly recognized that Ms. Roberts’ belief was an honest one. All Mr. Dershowitz was
pleading for was an acknowledgement that there was a “possibility” that there “may be” a case of
mistaken identification. Even that plea was rejected by Ms. Roberts and her lawyers as
misleading.
79. Dershowitz’s present PR claim that Roberts’ lawyers disbelieved their client, and
that Roberts intentionally committed perjury as part of an extortion scheme, is just another
Dershowitz lie. His reliance on statements taken out of context, his failure to include the
statements of Roberts’ lawyer after Dershowitz’s supposed evidence had been investigated, and
the damning admissions of his own lawyers, reveal Dershowitz’s total lack of support for his
allegation that Roberts and her lawyers concocted knowingly false allegation against him as part
of a supposed extortion plot.
80. Dershowitz also lied to attempt to deflect Sarah Ransome’s revelations about him.
Ms. Ransome revealed that during the time she was a victim of Epstein’s sex trafficking,
Epstein’s arranged for his lawyer, Dershowitz, to also represent Ms. Ransome. Ms. Ransome
also described how, during the time Dershowitz was her lawyer, Epstein lent her out to
Dershowitz for sex. (Exhibit 14).
81. Dershowitz asserted that he never had sex with Ms. Ransome, that he never
represented Ms. Ransome, that he did not even know Ms. Ransome, and that Ms. Ransome’s
statements about him were fabricated by Ms. Roberts’ lawyer in retaliation for a bar complaint
that Dershowitz had filed against that lawyer (Exhibit 16). However, as Dershowitz knew:
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(a)
(b)
(c)
He did have sex with Ms. Ransome.
He was Ms. Ransome’s lawyer.
Ms. Ransome’s statements about her involvement with Dershowitz
preceded any contact with Roberts’ attorneys. For example, Ransome’s first
contact with any of Roberts’ lawyers was in November 2016, and at least as early
as October 2016 Ransome had identified Dershowitz in writing to a reporter as
someone who had had sex with one or more of the girls provided by Epstein and
that Epstein had arranged for Dershowitz to be Ransome’s lawyer.
82. After settling the case against him brought by Messrs. Edwards and Cassell,
Dershowitz told the media he had been vindicated, while at the same time insisting that the term
of the settlement remains confidential. Edwards and Cassell responded: “Following the
announcement of the settlement of defamation claims against Alan Dershowitz, he has been
making public statements suggesting that he has prevailed in the lawsuit and that the terms of the
settlement exonerate him of any wrongdoing. Those statements are at best misleading. It is a
mistake for anyone to conclude based upon Mr. Dershowitz’s statements that the case against
him was abandoned due to lack of factual support. It is a mistake for anyone to conclude based
upon Dershowitz’s statements that Bradley Edwards and Paul Cassell had determined that the
allegations against Alan Dershowitz made by Virginia Roberts Giuffre were false or unfounded.
Neither the terms of settlement nor the agreed upon joint public statement issued as part of the
settlement support any such conclusion and it is false to state or suggest otherwise.” Dershowitz
Settles Sex Case, But is He Vindicated? The American Lawyer, April 10, 2016.
83. Dershowitz continues to this day to insist that the terms of his settlement with
Edwards and Cassell remain confidential -- a position that can only be explained by
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Dershowitz’s knowledge that revealing how much he had paid to avoid a trial of the allegations
against him would reveal his guilt.
84. As described above, Dershowitz has also repeatedly asserted that he wanted to
have a trial to establish his innocence. By contrast, he paid to settle the case that would have
provided that trial. He even lied about his being willing to waive the statute of limitations so that
Roberts could sue him for sex abuse -- a lie almost immediately exposed when he was promptly
asked to do so and, equally promptly refused.
COUNT I DEFAMATION
85. Plaintiff Roberts re-alleges paragraphs 1 – 84 as if the same were fully set forth
herein. Dershowitz made his false and defamatory statements deliberately and maliciously with
the intent to intimidate, discredit and defame Roberts.
86. In December 2018, and thereafter, Dershowitz, on behalf of himself and Epstein,
intentionally and maliciously released to the press his false statements about Roberts in an
attempt to destroy Roberts’ reputation and brand her as a liar and cause her to lose all credibility
in her efforts to help victims of sex trafficking.
87. Dershowitz and Epstein knew that Dershowitz’s assertions would dilute, discredit,
and neutralize Roberts’s public and private messages to sexual abuse victims and ultimately
prevent Roberts from effectively providing assistance and advocacy on behalf of other victims of
sex trafficking, or expose her abusers.
88. Using his role as a powerful lawyer with powerful friends, Dershowitz’s
statements were published internationally for the malicious purpose of further damaging a sexual
abuse and sexual trafficking victim; to destroy Roberts’s reputation and credibility; to cause the
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world to disbelieve Roberts; and to destroy Roberts’s efforts to use her experience to help others
suffering as sex trafficking victims.
89. Dershowitz, personally, intentionally, and maliciously made false and damaging
statements of fact concerning Roberts, as detailed above, in the Southern District of New York
and elsewhere.
90. The false statements that Dershowitz made, personally on behalf of himself and
Epstein not only called Roberts’s truthfulness and integrity into question, but also exposed
Roberts to public hatred, contempt, ridicule, and disgrace.
91. At the time Dershowitz made his false statements, he and Epstein, knew full well
that they were completely false.
92. Dershowitz’s false statements constitute libel, as he and Epstein knew that they
were going to be transmitted in writing, widely disseminated on the internet and in print.
Dershowitz intended his false statements to be published by newspaper and other media outlets
internationally, and they were, in fact, published globally, including within the Southern District
of New York.
93. Dershowitz’s false statements constitute libel per se, including that they accused
her of a crime, and including that they exposed Roberts to public contempt, ridicule, aversion,
and disgrace, and induced an evil opinion of her in the minds of right-thinking persons.
94. Dershowitz’s false statements also constitute libel per se, inasmuch, among other
reasons, as they tended to injure Roberts in her professional capacity as the president of a nonprofit
corporation designed to help victims of sex trafficking, and inasmuch as they destroyed her
credibility and reputation among members of the community that seeks her help and that she
seeks to serve.
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95. Dershowitz’s false statements directly stated and also implied that in speaking out
against sex trafficking Roberts acted with fraud, dishonesty, and unfitness for the task.
Dershowitz’s false statements directly and indirectly assert that Roberts lied about being sexually
trafficked and abused by Epstein and having sex with Dershowitz, and that Roberts committed
the crimes of perjury and extortion. Dershowitz’s false statements were reasonably understood
by many persons who read his statements as conveying that specific intention and meaning.
96. Dershowitz’s false statements were reasonably understood by many persons who
read those statements as making specific factual claims that Roberts was lying about specific
facts, and committed the crimes of perjury and extortion.
97. Dershowitz specifically directed his false statements at Roberts’ true public
description of factual events, and many persons who read Dershowitz’s statements reasonably
understood that those statements referred directly to Roberts’ account of the abuse she suffered at
the hands of Epstein and Dershowitz.
98. Dershowitz and Epstein intended Dershowitz’s false statements to be widely
published and disseminated on television, through newspapers, by word of mouth, and on the
internet. As intended by Dershowitz and Epstein, Dershowitz’s statements were published and
disseminated around the world.
99. Dershowitz made his false statements on behalf of himself and Epstein in reckless
disregard of their truth or falsity and with malicious intent to destroy Roberts’s reputation and
credibility; to prevent her from further disseminating her life story; and to cause persons hearing
or reading Roberts’s descriptions of truthful facts to disbelieve her entirely. Dershowitz made his
false statements on behalf of himself and Epstein wantonly and with the specific intent to
maliciously damage Roberts’s good name and reputation in a way that would destroy her efforts
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to administer her non-profit foundation, or share her life story, and thereby help others who have
suffered from sexual abuse.
100. As a result of Dershowitz’s and Epstein’s campaign to spread false, discrediting,
and defamatory statements about Roberts, Roberts suffered substantial damages in an amount to
be proven at trial.
101. Dershowitz’s false statements have caused, and continue to cause, Roberts
economic damage, psychological pain and suffering, mental anguish and emotional distress, and
other direct and consequential damages and losses.
102. Dershowitz’s and Epstein’s campaign to spread his false statements nationally and
internationally was unusual and particularly egregious conduct. Dershowitz and Epstein sexually
abused and trafficked Roberts, conspired to avoid having these crimes properly prosecuted and
discovered, and wantonly and maliciously set out to falsely accuse, defame, and discredit
Roberts to deny and conceal the scope and scale of their crimes. In so doing, Dershowitz’s
efforts constituted a public wrong by deterring, damaging, and setting back Roberts’ efforts to
help victims of sex trafficking. Accordingly, this is a case in which exemplary and punitive
damages are appropriate.
103. Punitive and exemplary damages are necessary in this case to deter Dershowitz,
Epstein and others from wantonly and maliciously using a campaign of lies to discredit Roberts
and other victims of sex trafficking.
PRAYER FOR RELIEF
WHEREFORE, Plaintiff Roberts respectfully requests judgment against Defendant
Dershowitz, awarding compensatory, consequential, exemplary, and punitive damages in an
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Case 1:19-cv-03377 Document 1 Filed 04/16/19 Page 28 of 28
amount to be determined at trial, but in excess of the $75,000 jurisdictional requirement; costs of
suit; attorneys’ fees; and such other and further relief as the Court may deem just and proper.
JURY DEMAND
Plaintiff hereby demands a trial by jury on all causes of action asserted within this
pleading.
Dated: April 16, 2019.
/s/ Joshua Schiller
Boies Schiller Flexner LLP
55 Hudson Yards
New York, NY 10001
(212) 446-2300
/s/ Sigrid McCawley
Sigrid McCawley
Boies Schiller Flexner LLP
401 E. Las Olas Blvd., Suite 1200
Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33301
(954) 356-0011
(Pro Hac To Be Filed)
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EXHIBIT 1
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Even from jail, sex abuser manipulated the system. His victims were kept in the dark
BY Julie K. Brown
NOV. 28, 2018
A decade before #MeToo, a multimillionaire sex offender from Florida got the ultimate break.
��
Palm Beach County Courthouse
June 30, 2008
Jeffrey Edward Epstein appeared at his sentencing dressed comfortably in a blue blazer, blue shirt, jeans and gray sneakers. His attorney, Jack
Goldberger, was at his side.
At the end of the 68-minute hearing, the 55-year-old silver-haired financier — accused of sexually abusing dozens of underage girls — was fingerprinted
and handcuffed, just like any other criminal sentenced in Florida.
But inmate No. W35755 would not be treated like other convicted sex offenders in the state of Florida, which has some of the strictest sex offender laws in
the nation.
Ten years before the #MeToo movement raised awareness about the kid-glove handling of powerful men accused of sexual abuse, Epstein’s lenient
sentence and his extraordinary treatment while in custody are still the source of consternation for the victims he was accused of molesting when they
were minors.
Beginning as far back as 2001, Epstein lured a steady stream of underage girls to his Palm Beach mansion to engage in nude massages, masturbation, oral
sex and intercourse, court and police records show. The girls — mostly from disadvantaged, troubled families — were recruited from middle and high
schools around Palm Beach County. Epstein would pay the girls for massages and offer them further money to bring him new girls every time he was at
his home in Palm Beach, according to police reports.
The girls, now in their late 20s and early 30s, allege in a series of federal civil lawsuits filed over the past decade that Epstein sexually abused hundreds of
girls, not only in Palm Beach, but at his homes in Manhattan, New Mexico and in the Caribbean.
In 2007, the FBI had prepared a 53-page federal indictment charging Epstein with sex crimes that could have put him in federal prison for life. But then-
Miami U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta signed off on a non-prosecution agreement, which was negotiated, signed and sealed so that no one would know
the full scope of Epstein’s crimes. The indictment was shelved, never to be seen again.
Epstein instead pleaded guilty to lesser charges in state court, and was required to register as a sex offender. He was sentenced to 18 months
incarceration.
But Epstein — who had a long list of powerful, politically connected friends — didn’t go to state prison like most sex offenders in Florida. Instead, the
multimillionaire was assigned to a private wing of the Palm Beach County stockade, where he was able to hire his own security detail. Even then, he didn’t
spend much time in a cell. He was allowed to go to his downtown West Palm Beach office for work release, up to 12 hours a day, six days a week, records
show.
Read Next
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Page 2 of 17
LOCAL
Sex abuser Jeffrey Epstein was surrounded by powerful people. Here’s a sampling
He was permitted to hire his own private psychologist for his required sex-offender counseling, and after his release from jail, his subsequent year of
probation under house arrest was filled with trips on his corporate jet to Manhattan and to his home in the U.S. Virgin Islands — all approved by the courts
with no objections from the state.
On the morning of his sentencing in 2008, none of Epstein’s victims were in the courtroom to protest his soft jail term or the unusual provisions of his
incarceration and probation — and that was by design.
Palm Beach multimillionaire Jeffrey Epstein is a free man, despite sexually abusing dozens of underage girls according to police and prosecutors. His
victims have never had a voice, until now.
By
Emails and letters contained in court filings reveal the cozy, behind-the-scenes dealings between federal prosecutors and Epstein’s indomitable legal
team during the run-up to his federal plea deal, as they discussed ways to minimize his criminal charges and avoid informing the girls about the details of
the deal until after the case was resolved.
That arrangement benefited Epstein in a number of ways. Unlike other high-profile sex crime cases, federal prosecutors agreed to keep his sentencing
quiet, thereby limiting media coverage. His underage victims — identified in FBI documents — weren’t told about the plea deal so they weren’t in court,
where they could voice their objections and possibly sway the judge to give Epstein a harsher sentence or reject the agreement altogether.
Most important, Epstein’s crimes would be reduced to felony prostitution charges, giving him the ability to argue that the girls weren’t victims at all —
they were prostitutes.
Four accomplices named in Epstein’s non-prosecution agreement — Nadia Marcinkova, Sarah Kellen, Adriana Ross and Lesley Groff — were also given
immunity from federal prosecution. Marcinkova was a young girl when Epstein brought her from Yugoslavia to live with him. Several victims told police
that she was involved in orgies with Epstein and underage girls. Ross, Groff and Kellen, now known by her married name, Vickers, were schedulers who
arranged his underage sex sessions, according to the FBI and police.
Marcinkova and Kellen, through their attorneys, declined to comment for this story. The Herald was unsuccessful in reaching Ross and Groff.
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/article219494920.html
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Acosta, who is now President Donald Trump’s secretary of labor, told lawmakers last year at his confirmation hearing that he did not know that Epstein
would receive such liberal treatment while incarcerated. But court records show that federal prosecutors under his authority acquiesced to many of
Epstein’s demands, including that he not go to federal or state prison.
“I can’t remember how I found out that he had taken a plea,’’ said Courtney Wild, identified by the FBI as one of more than three dozen underage girls —
some of them as young as 13 — who had been molested by Epstein at his waterfront estate between 2001 and 2005.
“We were purposefully misled into believing that his sentencing [in state court] had nothing to do with the federal crimes he committed against me or the
other girls.’’
Epstein, now 65, was released in 2009 after serving 13 months.
Wild, who was 14 when she met Epstein, is suing the federal government, alleging that prosecutors kept her and other victims in the dark as part of a
conspiracy to give Epstein — described in the lawsuit as “a powerful, politically connected multimillionaire” — one of the most lenient deals for a serial
child sex offender in history.
Courtney Wild is suing the federal government, claiming that prosecutors deliberately kept her and other victims of Jeffrey Epstein in the dark about the status of his case. The
U.S. Attorney’s Office signed a non-prosecution agreement with the multimillionaire. Emily Michot EMICHOT@MIAMIHERALD.COM
Now 31, Wild is Jane Doe No. 1 in “Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2 vs. the United States,” which seeks to overturn Epstein’s plea agreement on the grounds that
it was executed in violation of the federal Crime Victims’ Rights Act. The measure affords crime victims a series of rights, including to confer with
prosecutors and to be notified about plea negotiations and sentencing.
That lawsuit — and an unrelated state court case scheduled for trial on Dec. 4 — could expose more about Epstein’s crimes, as well as who else was
involved and whether there was any undue influence that tainted the federal case.
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/article219494920.html
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Support investigative journalism
The Miami Herald obtained thousands of FBI and court records, lawsuits, and witness depositions, and went to federal court in New York to access sealed documents in the reporting of "Perversion of
Justice." The Herald also tracked down more than 60 women who said they were victims, some of whom had never spoken of the abuse before.
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Some of Epstein’s victims will finally have an opportunity to testify for the first time as part of the Dec. 4 case in state court in Palm Beach County. It pits
Fort Lauderdale attorney Bradley Edwards against Epstein, who had accused Edwards of malfeasance in his representation of several victims.
Jack Scarola, the attorney representing Edwards, said Epstein should be held accountable for his unrelenting attacks against Edwards — as well as others
who were involved in his case.
“We are going to demonstrate through this case that no one — no matter how much money they have — can abuse children and then attempt to bully
those who come to the defense of children,’’ said Scarola, a former state prosecutor.
Florida and beyond
Few people had as much insight into Epstein’s lifestyle — and its international reach — as Virginia Roberts. By age 16, Roberts had lived a life that was
beyond that of most high school girls.
At 11, she says, she was sexually molested by a family friend. At 12, she was smoking pot and skipping school. At 13, she was in and out of foster homes, and
at 14, she was on the street.
In Miami, the runaway became a captive of a 65-year-old sex trafficker, Ron Eppinger. For months, she says, she was sexually abused, kept in an
apartment and pimped out to pedophiles. After his indictment in 2000 on trafficking charges, Roberts returned to West Palm Beach and tried to heal.
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Virginia Roberts, now Giuffre, says she was 16 and working as a locker room attendant at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort when she was approached by Ghislaine Maxwell,
Jeffrey Epstein’s associate, about becoming a masseuse for Epstein. COURTESY OF VIRGINIA ROBERTS
That summer, when Roberts was 16, she said her father helped her get a job as a locker room attendant at the spa at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in
Palm Beach, records show. Her father worked at the resort as a maintenance man.
There she said she met Ghislaine Maxwell, an Epstein friend and socialite daughter of the late British publishing magnate Robert Maxwell. She offered
Roberts an opportunity to become a massage therapist, working for Epstein.
In a sworn court affidavit and in a recent interview with the Herald, Roberts described how Epstein and Maxwell began grooming her — not just to
perform massages, but to sexually pleasure them and others.
“It started with one and it trickled into two and so on,’’ Roberts told the Herald. “And before you know it, I’m being lent out to politicians and academics
and royalty.’’
Roberts, too, was ordered to find Epstein girls — the younger, the better — by trolling areas where teenagers congregated, such as shopping malls, to lure
girls to whatever residence Epstein was staying in at the time, she told the Herald.
She began to travel with Epstein and Maxwell to Epstein’s other homes, in New York, New Mexico and the U.S. Virgin Islands — and her trips are
documented in flight logs that frequently list her name or her initials as a passenger, court records show.
“His appetite was insatiable. He wanted new girls, fresh, young faces every single day — that was just the sickness that he had,’’ Roberts said.
Neither Epstein nor his lead attorney, Goldberger, responded to requests for comment.
Roberts alleges that Epstein had cameras throughout his homes and said he liked her to tell him about the sexual peccadilloes of various important men
she had sex with.
“Epstein and Maxwell also got girls for Epstein’s friends and acquaintances. Epstein specifically told me that the reason for him doing this was so that
they would ‘owe him,’ they would ‘be in his pocket,’ and he would ‘have something on them,’ ” Roberts said in a court affidavit. “I understood him to
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mean that when someone was in his pocket, they owed him favors.’’
Roberts elaborated in her interview with the Herald, saying that Epstein had access to girls through a modeling agency that recruited them from overseas.
Epstein, who was close to Les Wexner, the owner of Victoria’s Secret, often talked about his connections to people in the modeling, fashion and acting
industries, Roberts told the Herald.
“He [Epstein] would tell the girls, ‘Hey, I will give you a modeling contract if you go have sex with this man [whichever acquaintance Epstein
designated],’ ’’ she said.
Roberts’ story about the modeling agency is supported, to a degree, by the sworn statement of a Miami woman named Maritza Vasquez, who was later
interviewed in New York by an FBI agent from Miami. Vasquez worked as a bookkeeper for Mc2, owned by Epstein associate Jean-Luc Brunel. He
employed scouts in South America, Europe and the former Soviet Union to find him models to bring to the United States, Vasquez said in a 2010 sworn
court deposition obtained by the Herald.
Vasquez stated in the deposition that from 2003 to 2006 she handled all the finances and payroll for the agency, including a bank transaction involving
Epstein. She said Epstein invested $1 million in Mc2.
The models were often very young — 13, 14 and 15 — and some of them were housed in apartments at 301 E. 66th St. in New York, a building purportedly
owned by Epstein, the deposition said.
Epstein didn’t charge the girls rent, Vasquez said, but Brunel charged them $1,000 a month, with four of them at a time sharing one apartment. The girls
who were the youngest and most beautiful stayed at the 66th Street apartments, which were more luxurious than the other apartments that were used to
house models who were not as young and desirable, she said.
Vasquez once let one of the models, who was 14, stay overnight with her after the girl ran into trouble with police for trying to get into a Manhattan
nightclub. Vasquez also testified that she helped a lawyer obtain visas for the foreign models, and assisted with their transportation to and from modeling
assignments and parties.
Vasquez said that even though the agency employed 200 to 300 models, the company didn’t make any money and Brunel was always broke. Brunel would
later sue Epstein, alleging that the financier’s sex scandal had caused his business to fail, but the suit was eventually dropped.
Vasquez testified it wasn’t unusual for the agency to send girls to an assignment with a wealthy client for $100,000 or more, but the girl wouldn’t be paid
the full amount — or anything at all — if she refused to be “molested.’’
Vasquez considered herself a mother figure and often coached the youngest girls to stick to the 9-to-5 modeling assignments because she didn’t think it
was appropriate for them to be having sex.
She said she met Epstein only once, but she often helped arrange for girls — many of them underage — to be sent to his homes in New York, Palm Beach
and his island in the Caribbean for parties. She heard salacious rumors about Epstein’s parties, but testified she had no firsthand knowledge about
whether they involved sex.
Vasquez said that she was questioned by the FBI and she tried to tell agents where to look for evidence.
Vasquez was eventually let go from the agency after she was accused of stealing money — money she claims was given to her by Brunel. Vasquez said she
was placed on probation for the theft. She never heard from the FBI about Epstein again.
The Herald was unsuccessful in reaching Brunel through his former attorney.
In a written statement released in 2015, Brunel denied any involvement in trafficking underage models.
“I strongly deny having participated, neither directly nor indirectly, in the actions Mr. Jeffrey Epstein is being accused of,” he said. “I strongly deny
having committed any illicit act or any wrongdoing in the course of my work as a scouter or model agencies manager.”
Too old at 19
In 2003, when Roberts turned 19, it was clear that Epstein had lost interest because she was too old for him, she said. She convinced him to pay for her to
get training to become a real professional masseuse so that she could move on.
In an interview, she explained that Epstein arranged for her to take a class in Thailand, but it came with a hitch: She said she was instructed to pick up a
Thai girl he had arranged to come to the States.
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Roberts, who showed the Herald the written instructions for the rendezvous, never picked up the girl because Roberts met a man on the trip who would
become her husband. The couple married and moved to Australia, where they currently live.
In 2007 — at the same time the FBI was investigating Epstein — Roberts, pregnant with her second child, said she unexpectedly received phone calls from
Maxwell and Epstein. She said they were worried that she had told police about them. She assured them she had not spoken to anyone, she said.
Shortly afterward, Roberts said, she was contacted by someone who claimed to be with the FBI. But she was afraid to tell that person details, fearing it was
really an Epstein associate posing as an FBI agent.
That agent, identified in court papers as Timothy Slater, confirmed that he and the other agent on the case, Nesbitt Kuyrkendall, called Roberts in January
or February 2007. In a sworn statement, Slater said he informed Roberts that they suspected she was a victim of Epstein’s.
The agent said Roberts answered basic questions, but became uncomfortable and “asked that I not bother her again.’’
Roberts said the agent didn’t try too hard to convince her to talk, and she was surprised when he hung up after asking her a few graphic questions about
her sex life. She said she was suspicious, but would have cooperated had the FBI talked to her in person and explained why they were asking about
Epstein.
“I was still scared to death,’’ Roberts said. “Jeffrey used to tell me that he owned the entire Palm Beach Police Department. I just didn’t want my family
harmed.’’
She nevertheless was listed by federal prosecutors as one of Epstein’s Palm Beach victims.
As the years went by and Roberts had a daughter, she would be haunted by a fear that Epstein was still taking advantage of young girls. In 2011, she went
public in a paid interview with a British tabloid, the Daily Mail, asserting that she had had sex with Prince Andrew, one of Epstein’s friends, several times
when she was a teen.
In her 2015 affidavit, she discussed in detail some of her alleged sex encounters with the prince and Epstein’s other friends, including lawyer Alan
Dershowitz. Edwards included the affidavit in the court file as part of the Jane Does’ Crime Victims’ Rights Act case, at which time it became public.
Virginia Roberts says she was loaned out by Jeffrey Epstein to his friend Prince Andrew, shown here. He denies they had sex. COURTESY OF VIRGINIA ROBERTS
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In the affidavit, Roberts claimed that Epstein and Maxwell directed her to have sex with Andrew and Dershowitz and others. She had sex with Andrew
three times, she alleged — once in London, when she was 17, again in New York, when she was 17, and a third time, as part of an orgy on Epstein’s island,
when she was 18. By law, at 17, she would have been above the age of consent in New York and England, but not in Florida, where the age of consent is 18.
As part of the affidavit, Roberts furnished a photograph of her with the prince and Maxwell, which she said was taken in London.
Dershowitz, who was part of Epstein’s criminal defense team, was often a guest at Epstein’s homes, she said.
“I had sexual intercourse with Dershowitz at least six times,’’ Roberts wrote in the 2015 court affidavit. “The first time was when I was about 16, early on
in my servitude to Epstein and it continued until I was 19.’’ She detailed some of those alleged trysts, which she said happened at Epstein’s homes in Palm
Beach, New Mexico and on Epstein’s island.
One of Epstein’s housemen, Juan Alessi, testified in a 2009 sworn deposition that Dershowitz visited Epstein’s Palm Beach home four or five times a year.
He said that Roberts was a frequent visitor as well, but he never placed Dershowitz and Roberts at the house at the same time.
Alessi, who testified he worked for Epstein from 1999 to 2002, said there were often young girls who gave massages at the house, even in the middle of the
night. But he said he never checked their ages, and only knew one girl for certain who was underage, because he had picked her up from high school. That
girl, who is now an actress, was not one of Epstein’s masseuses, Alessi said.
He also said he was Maxwell’s driver, and he recalls waiting outside of Mar-a-Lago the day Maxwell met Roberts. He testified he saw Maxwell talking to
Roberts and recalls Roberts coming to Epstein’s mansion later that day. One of Alessi’s jobs was to drive Maxwell to various spas in Palm Beach where she
left business cards in order to “recruit’’ more masseuses, he said in the sworn deposition.
Dershowitz, Prince Andrew and Maxwell have long denied Roberts’ allegations.
In an interview with the Herald, Dershowitz reiterated that he had never met Roberts, and never saw Epstein with any underage girls.
“The story was 100 percent flatly categorically made-up,’’ he said, adding that Roberts and her attorneys fabricated the assertion in order to get money
from other powerful, wealthy people she alleges she had sex with.
“The only possible reason to accuse me in public and [them] in private is so she could get money,’’ Dershowitz said.
Edwards and his co-counsel in the Crime Victims’ lawsuit, University of Utah law professor Paul Cassell, sued Dershowitz for defamation and Dershowitz
countersued in 2015. The case was settled out of court, with Dershowitz saying he had been vindicated.
Dershowitz said he received a massage at Epstein’s Palm Beach home only once — but that it was just a regular, therapeutic massage by a masseuse — not
by Roberts or anyone underage. Dershowitz’s wife was there at Epstein’s house at the time, Dershowitz said in the deposition taken for the case in 2015.
“I never had any knowledge of Jeffrey Epstein having any contact with any underage women — ever,’’ Dershowitz told the Herald.
Edwards and Cassell admitted making a “tactical mistake” in filing the accusations against Dershowitz as part of a lawsuit not involving him. But they
emphasized that the settlement had no bearing on the veracity of Roberts’ allegations.
The judge for the Crime Victims’ Rights Act lawsuit agreed that the affidavit was misplaced in that case, and it was dropped.
Prince Andrew’s spokesman at Buckingham Palace did not respond to an email requesting comment.
Roberts, now 35, said it has taken her a long time to stand up to Epstein. She and 20 other victims received settlements from Epstein, ranging from
$50,000 to more than $1 million. The exact amounts have been kept confidential.
“It takes so long until you are able to speak about it. It took me having a daughter and looking at this young, beautiful innocent baby to say I want to speak
out about it now. I’m hoping that this will bring out more girls so that they say, Me Too.’’
The state court hearing
The judge at Epstein’s sentencing hearing at the Palm Beach County Courthouse knew very little about Epstein’s crimes. The sentencing paperwork was
restricted to Epstein’s specific charges: one count of solicitation of prostitution and one count of procuring a person under the age of 18 for prostitution.
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“Are there more than one victim?’’ Circuit Court Judge Deborah Dale Pucillo asked the prosecutor at Epstein’s sentencing on June 30, 2008.
“There’s several,’’ replied assistant state prosecutor Lanna Belohlavek.
“Are all the victims in both of these cases in agreement with the terms of this plea?’‘ Pucillo later asked.
“Yes,’‘ Belohlavek replied, telling the judge that she had spoken to “several” of Epstein’s victims.
Emails show that federal prosecutors didn’t want the judge to know how many victims and accomplices there were.
Federal prosecutor A. Marie Villafaña — in a September 2007 email to Epstein lawyer Jay Lefkowitz — said: “I will mention co-conspirators but I would
prefer not to highlight for the judge all the other crimes and all the other persons that we could charge.’’
Attorney Spencer Kuvin happened to be in court that day because he’d heard Epstein was to appear, but Kuvin didn’t know why. He figured he’d use it as
an opportunity to serve Epstein with civil court papers involving one of several victims he represented. Instead, he listened to what was happening and
couldn’t believe that no one had contacted him or his clients.
“I was shocked to learn that the proceeding involved my client’s case and there was nothing I could do except watch as they disposed of her case without
ever telling her,’’ Kuvin said.
At the hearing, Belohlavek and Epstein’s attorney, Goldberger, were in sync, the court transcript shows. Epstein would be required to register as a sex
offender, but his probation would not be served under the strict requirements of sex offender probation.
Jeffrey Epstein is a registered sex offender in New York State and Florida. Emily Michot EMICHOT@MIAMIHERALD.COM
The judge didn’t question those provisions, but she did ask why Epstein was going to serve his sentence in the Palm Beach County stockade instead of in a
Florida state prison, like most sex offenders.
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After he pleaded guilty in state court, Jeffrey Epstein was assigned to a private section of the Palm Beach County stockade. Soon, however, he was allowed to leave the
compound six days a week, 12 hours a day, for what was termed work release. Emily Michot EMICHOT@MIAMIHERALD.COM
“We just decided that was the best way to accomplish what needed to be done here and the parties agreed that that sentence satisfied everyone’s
requirements,’’ Goldberger replied.
Said Judge Pucillo: “The taxpayers of Palm Beach County are going to pay 18 months to house this guy instead of DOC [the Department of Corrections]?”
Belohlavek: “Right.’’
Pucillo did not respond to a request for comment on the case.
Villafaña, the lead federal prosecutor in Epstein’s case, was in the courtroom, but there’s no indication she objected to Epstein’s cozier jail
accommodations.
When he entered jail in July 2008, Epstein was arguably the most well-known inmate there. Records also show that Epstein hired Palm Beach sheriff’s
deputies for his security details, paying them for the hours they spent monitoring him on work release at his West Palm Beach office, where he often
stayed until 10 p.m., jail logs show.
The Herald reviewed their time sheets, showing that the deputies logged visitors coming and going to and from his office throughout the day. A record log
of his visitors was kept in a safe, but the log no longer exists, according to a spokeswoman for the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.
One deputy who often worked Epstein’s detail said that his assignment was to stay in a front reception room of Epstein’s office. Epstein was in a separate
office — with the door closed — most of the day as he accepted visitors, both male and female, the deputies’ logs show.
“It was not our job to monitor what he was doing in that office,’’ the deputy,
now retired, told the Herald.
In their early reports in July 2008, the deputies referred to Epstein as
“inmate’’ but within a few weeks the language had changed and he was
called a “client.” He was occasionally allowed to take a break for lunch by
sitting outside in a park, the records show, and they also gave him
permission to scout for a new office. While on work release, he was required
to wear an ankle bracelet to monitor his whereabouts.

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The work release was approved by the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office,
said spokeswoman Therese Barbera.
“Jeffrey Epstein, while in custody, met the criteria for the Work Release
Program,’’ Barbera wrote in an email. “There was no factual basis to deny
Mr. Epstein the same availability of this program that is offered to other
inmates under similar circumstances. Mr. Epstein was closely monitored
and there were no problems encountered during his time in the program.”
But the sheriff’s own work release policy — a copy of which Barbera provided
to the Herald — specifically notes that sex offenders aren’t eligible for work
While officially confined to the Palm Beach County stockade, serving time for his sex
release.
offenses, Jeffrey Epstein was allowed to spend half his day at this West Palm Beach
office building. It was called work release, although Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office rules
At first, Barbera questioned whether Epstein was a sex offender at all, noting prohibit work-release status for sexual offenders. Emily Michot
that he didn’t have to register officially until after his release from the jail in EMICHOT@MIAMIHERALD.COM
2009. But his court papers clearly listed him as a sex offender. In fact, the papers Epstein signed — obtained by the Herald — included all the laws
governing registered sex offenders in Florida.
Barbera refused to explain why Epstein was seemingly allowed to deviate from the agency’s policies. She also would not respond to requests for an
accounting of the amount of money that Epstein paid the sheriff’s office for his private details.
Palm Beach Sheriff Ric Bradshaw, who has been in office since 2004 — and is widely considered to be one of the most powerful people in the county — did
not respond to requests for comment.
A spokeswoman for Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw declined to say why Jeffrey Epstein was allowed work-release status despite rules prohibiting work release for sex
offenders. Taylor Jones PALM BEACH POST
Epstein’s registration requirements are somewhat confusing, even to those who are responsible for keeping his registration. The Florida Department of
Law Enforcement, which keeps the online registry, and the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, where Epstein has to register in person twice a year, gave
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conflicting explanations over the past six months about who is responsible for ensuring that he is complying with the law.
On Nov. 14, the Herald asked the sheriff’s office for a full accounting of Epstein’s check-ins for 2018. The record the office supplied two days later showed
he registered in January and in July — as required. But PBSO also inexplicably had him registering on Nov. 14 — the very same day that the Herald asked
for the records from the sheriff’s office.
When asked about this sudden registration, Barbera replied: “The information we provided you was a snapshot from the FDLE website. Perhaps,
someone from FDLE can provide a reason for you.’’
Said FDLE spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger in an email: “The screenshot is not on the public registry. This is information inputted by the local agency when
the offender comes into the local sheriff’s office to register.’’
Plessinger said Epstein is not covered by the state’s new three-day rule, which requires sex offenders to re-register when they come to stay in Florida for
three days or more. His town of Palm Beach home is already on file, as a temporary residence, she said.
So it’s not clear why he would have suddenly registered a third time on Nov. 14.
State Sen. Lauren Book, a child sex abuse survivor and vocal advocate for tough sex offender monitoring, called the case an appalling example of how
those in the justice system allow wealthy people to skirt the law and bend the rules.
“These prosecutors, and judges and sheriffs who are making these decisions and allowing things to fly — we have to hold these people accountable. They
are supposed to uphold the law — regardless of who a person is and how much money they have in the bank or who they had on their airplane.’’
Piece by piece
Over the years, Courtney Wild, Virginia Roberts and more than a dozen other women who say they were victims of Epstein have been quietly challenging
the traditional legal norms that have failed to punish Epstein and other men in positions of power for sexual abuse.
Epstein has paid millions of dollars in civil compensation that, for the most part, has kept the details about his operation out of the public eye. As a result,
much — but not all — of the testimony and evidence collected as part of the vast litigation has been sealed or redacted from public court records.
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The girls who were abused by Jeffrey Epstein and the cops who championed their cause remain angry over what they regard as a gross injustice, while
Epstein's employees and those who engineered his non-prosecution agreement have prospered.
By
Taking a page from Epstein’s legal team, lawyers representing Epstein’s victims hired private investigators and former police detectives to dig into
Epstein’s life. Over the past decade, they’ve tracked down hundreds of people, including dozens of other potential victims; they’ve interviewed Epstein’s
recruiters, bookkeepers, housekeepers, butlers, pilots and drivers. They’ve traveled around the country and the world, taking statements and sworn
depositions, coaxing people to talk who had previously been too reticent to come forward.
In short, they did what criminal prosecutors didn’t do.
Some of the information they’ve learned was given to federal authorities in New York. Edwards said those authorities have shown no interest in opening a
new investigation focused on crimes he is alleged to have committed in that state, where he is listed as a level 3 sex offender, the most dangerous
category, considered at risk to re-offend, records show. In New York, he has to register every 90 days.
Virginia Roberts holds a photo of herself at age 16, when she says Palm Beach multimillionaire Jeffrey Epstein began abusing her sexually. Emily Michot
EMICHOT@MIAMIHERALD.COM
Holding abusers accountable
In 2015, Roberts sued Maxwell for defamation in New York after Maxwell called her a liar in a news interview. The civil lawsuit was an effort by Roberts
not just to clear her name, but an attempt to prove that Epstein and Maxwell operated an international underage sex trafficking operation. The lawsuit
was settled out of court in 2017 and nearly all the evidence presented in the case has been sealed.
Roberts’ attorney, Sigrid McCawley, claims that Roberts received a sizable settlement, although the amount is confidential.
“She wanted to hold her abusers accountable and we were able to do that by bringing this case … which we ultimately settled very successfully for her,’’
said McCawley, an associate of noted Bush-Gore recount lawyer David Boies, who has also pursued cases against Epstein in federal court in New York.
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Maxwell’s lawyer, Laura Menninger, declined to comment, referring the Herald to the court history.
“[Roberts] fabricated a story of abuse at the hands of Ms. Maxwell in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars from British tabloids with a motive
for selling papers and advertisements and without regard for truth, veracity or substantiation,’’ Menninger noted in a 2016 response filed in the case.
In February, the Miami Herald filed a federal court motion in the Southern District of New York, seeking access to documents that were sealed in the
Maxwell case. The motion, which was not opposed by Roberts, could have cast light on the full scope of Epstein’s possible sex trafficking operation, who
was involved and whether it was covered up. Maxwell has opposed the Herald’s motion, which was denied in August.
The Herald is appealing.
Today, Epstein has a new private jet, which takes him around the world. Flight records show that he spends most of his time on his private island, Little St.
James in the U.S. Virgin Islands, which he now lists as his permanent residence. He is registered in New York and the U.S. Virgin Islands as a sex offender.
New Mexico, where he owns a sprawling ranch, does not list him as a convicted sex offender.
As part of its investigation, the Herald learned that in 2013, the federal government conceded that it had given Epstein what it called “valuable
consideration” for information he provided to the FBI as part of his plea deal. The documents do not elaborate, but Epstein — a hedge fund manager who
once worked for the investment firm Bear Stearns — was listed as a key investor who lost money in the financial crash of 2008.
Francey Hakes, a former federal child sex crimes prosecutor, said any consideration the government gave to Epstein should be made public.
“The public has a right to know why he got a slap on the wrist, and what was the interest that was so great that allowed him to not get prosecuted?”
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Nadia Marcinkova, now a professional pilot, worked for Jeffrey Epstein when he was molesting young women. Victims told police Marcinkova would participate in sex acts,
often as Epstein choreographed every move. Jerod Harris
In recent years, Epstein has been traveling the world in his new Gulfstream V jet. He has been active in various charitable causes and scientific research
projects. The Jeffrey Epstein VI Foundation, based in the U.S. Virgin Islands, has helped fund NeuroTV, an online network that features interviews with
academics and scientists.
Then and now
Both Nadia Marcinkova and Sarah Kellen changed their names after the scandal.
Marcinkova, 32, briefly became Marcinko. She visited Epstein more than 70 times when he was in Palm Beach custody. She went on to a career in real
estate. And she is now an FAA-certified commercial pilot and flight instructor who goes by the name “Global Girl’’ on social media.
(www.facebook.com/GlobalGirlAviation/)
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Sarah Kellen, who used the name Kensington for a while, is now married to NASCAR driver Brian Vickers. The couple divides their time between homes
in North Carolina, New York and Miami Beach.
NASCAR driver Brian Vickers and his wife, Sarah, take part in pre-race ceremonies in Sparta, Ky., on June 28, 2014. She was known as Sarah Kellen when she was an aide to
Jeffrey Epstein. According to police, she scheduled visits of underage girls to Epstein’s Palm Beach estate for massages that turned sexual. She was not charged with a crime. Will
Schneekloth GETTY IMAGES
Maxwell, 56, transformed herself into an internationally known environmentalist. In 2012, she founded the TerraMar Project, a nonprofit environmental
group that works to protect the world’s oceans. In 2013, she gave a TED Talk on ocean conservation, discussing her diving expeditions around the world.
Dershowitz, 80, continues to lecture around the country. A professor
emeritus at Harvard Law School, Dershowitz has been a frequent
commenter on cable TV programs, often defending President Trump.
Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, 58, remained friends with Epstein, and in
2010, a photograph was taken of the two of them strolling in Manhattan. It
was later revealed that Epstein had loaned the prince’s ex-wife, Sarah
Ferguson, $24,000 to pay off some debts. Ferguson later called the loan a
“gigantic error of judgment.”
Plain human beings
Crime victims’ rights advocates have used the Epstein case to strengthen the
federal law in recent years, adding more precise language mandating that
prosecutors notify victims about plea bargains and allow victims to be heard
at sentencing.
Because some statute-of-limitation laws set deadlines for filing civil and
criminal sex crime cases, it’s difficult to bring them years later, said Marci
Hamilton, a University of Pennsylvania professor who is working to ease

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those restrictions across the country.
Ghislaine Maxwell, daughter of a British press magnate and Jeffrey Epstein’s close
associate when he was inviting underage girls into his bedroom, leads a TED Talk on
environmental issues.
But she points out that there has been no statute of limitations for federal sex crimes involving children since 2002.
Children who are sexually abused often take decades to reveal what happened to them, in part because their brains aren’t wired at a young age to
understand the trauma they’ve experienced, said Kenneth V. Lanning, a retired FBI agent who investigated and studied child sex crimes for 40 years.
“We want to hold children to some superhuman standard because they behave this way. In reality, police, prosecutors and judges have to understand that
children are not all angels from heaven. They are just plain human beings who are emotionally immature so we have to protect them from their own
decisions.’’
Wild, who continues to fight her federal case on behalf of all of Epstein’s victims, said she hopes that the federal judge hearing the Crime Victims’ Rights
case will make a ruling soon, one that will send a message to prosecutors who fail to consider the rights of crime victims.
“Really if you think about this too hard, it’s scary because this is our government that is supposed to protect us but has done everything to protect a
pedophile,’’ she said.
Support investigative journalism
The Miami Herald obtained thousands of FBI and court records, lawsuits, and witness depositions, and went to federal court in New York to access sealed documents in the reporting of "Perversion of
Justice." The Herald also tracked down more than 60 women who said they were victims, some of whom had never spoken of the abuse before.
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Alan Dershowitz: ‘I never had sex with Virginia Roberts’ | Miami
Herald
miamiherald.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article222532470.html
In its series on the Jeffrey Epstein case, “Perversion of Justice,” the Herald quotes an
affidavit by Virginia Roberts — a woman I never met — claiming she had sex with me on
Epstein’s island, ranch, plane and mansion. It then simply says I “denied” it.
In fact, I disproved it. I produced my travel, phone, credit card and TV appearance
records, conclusively proving that I could not have been and was not in any of these
places during the time Roberts knew Epstein. The former FBI director, assisted by a
former assistant U.S. attorney and a chief federal marshal, reviewed these records and
the other evidence and concluded that, “The totality of the evidence found during the
investigation refutes the allegations.”
There is other evidence, currently under seal, that directly establishes my innocence. I am
seeking to unseal emails between Roberts and a journalist, a book manuscript by Roberts
and a legal brief that are smoking guns showing that I was “deliberately framed for
financial reasons.”
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inRead invented by Teads
There is also irrefutable evidence that Roberts lied about other people for money. She
told a British tabloid that she met Al and Tipper Gore on Epstein’s island and swore that
she had dinner with Bill Clinton on the island. But Secret Service records prove that none
of these people were on the island. Indeed, the Gores didn’t even know Epstein.
Get six months of free digital access to the Miami Herald
I have a tape recording of a conversation with Roberts’ closest friend in which she says
that Roberts told her she “felt pressure to go after [Dershowitz]” in order to obtain
money from a wealthy businessman, and that Roberts had never previously included me
among the people with whom she claimed to have had sex.
Finally, one of Roberts’ own lawyers has acknowledged in front of witnesses that her
claims against me are “wrong” “simply wrong.”
The evidence of my innocence is indisputable: I never met Roberts; I never had sex with
her; she simply made up the entire story for money.
Roberts made her false claims against me in court documents that immunize her from
being sued for defamation. I challenge her to repeat her false accusations out of court,
so that I can sue her for defamation and let a jury decide — after seeing all the evidence,
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including the suppressed emails and book manuscript — who is telling the truth and who
is lying.
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https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/dershowitz-goes-off-on-woman-who-made-underage-...
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Dershowitz Goes Off on Woman Who Made Underage Sex Allegations: 'She Should Be ...
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Dershowitz Goes Off on Woman Who Made Underage Sex
Allegations: ‘She Should Be Seriously Punished’
by Ronn Blitzer | 2:26 pm, December 4th, 2018
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� � 00:34 10:57 � � �
Just hours after convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein agreed to settle
a civil case brought against him by attorney Bradley
Edwards, Epstein’s lawyer from his past criminal case, Alan
Dershowitz, discussed his former client on the Law&Crime Network.
Epstein was accused of trafficking more than 40 underage girls for
sex, and one such girl claimed Dershowitz himself had sex with her
when she was underage.
Dershowitz vehemently denies the claim, telling host Brian Ross that
accuser Virginia Roberts is a “certified, complete, total liar,” and that
her allegations are a “complete and total fabrication.” He also added
that she should be punished by the law for what she did.
The Harvard Law Professor Emeritus noted that Roberts’ allegations
were eventually withdrawn, and that the FBI recognized the
evidence showed he was not where she said he was. He pointed to
documented evidence that proves he is innocent.
“I can prove conclusively that she made the whole thing up,”
Dershowitz said, citing travel records that he says prove where he
was at the time she claims she had sex with him. “It’s conclusive,
conclusive evidence.”
“More importantly, I can prove where I wasn’t,” he said, after stating
outright, “Never met her, don’t know who she is, never heard of her.”
Similarly, Dershowitz said that Roberts claimed that notable figures
such as Bill Clinton, Al Gore, and Tipper Gore were present on an
https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/dershowitz-goes-off-on-woman-who-made-underage-...
4/3/2019
Dershowitz Goes Off on Woman Who Made Underage Sex Allegations: 'She Should Be ...
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island, when Secret Service records proved they were never even
there.
Dershowitz said Roberts’ allegations were part of an extortion plot,
and that she “should be seriously punished for submitting false
information and a false affidavit.”
The attorney emphasized that Roberts has not been willing to repeat
her allegations against him in public, and that she has only accused
him in the context of litigation, which affords certain protections.
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“She simply hides behind litigation privileges,” Dershowitz said,
encouraging Ross to call Roberts and see if she would repeat her
claims. “And if she does, I will be in court the next day suing her for
defamation and I will win the case ’cause I can prove conclusively
that she made up the whole story from top to bottom.”
Ross then turned to the controversial deal that Epstein received from
federal prosecutors who were investigating the trafficking case
against him. Federal prosecutors agreed not to prosecute him, and let
him plead guilty to state charges that resulted in a 13-month prison
sentence that allowed Epstein to leave prison during the day for
work. Federal prosecutors allegedly did not even inform victims
before making the deal, which is now the subject of a request for an
Inspector General investigation. Congressional Democrats said in a
letter that they want to know more about the circumstances
surrounding the deal, which was made by then-U.S. Attorney and
current Secretary of Labor Alex Acosta.
As Epstein’s defense attorney in that case, Dershowitz is not upset
about it the deal at all.
“I’m very proud of that deal, that’s what lawyers are supposed to do,”
he said. “Lawyers are supposed to get the best deals they can.” If he
could have gotten 10 months or no time at all, that would have been
even better, he said.
Acosta said in the past that Epstein’s lawyers, including Dershowitz,
put pressure on his office by investigating his staff. Dershowitz has
denied this.
“Acosta was very tough,” Dershowitz said, contrary to concerns that
he did anything improper. Dershowitz pointed out that the problem
feds had was proving that girls were transported in interstate
commerce.
https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/dershowitz-goes-off-on-woman-who-made-underage-...
4/3/2019