Prominent lawyer Alan Dershowitz took legal steps this week to contest claims made in a recent court filing that he had sex with an underage girl who was coerced into a ‘sex ring’ run by disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, the Washington Post reported.
Dershowitz, who is not named as a party in the lawsuit, filed a motion to intervene in the case in order to “protect his reputation” against the “outrageously false” accusations of one of Epstein’s alleged victims.
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The famed lawyer was named, along with Britain’s Prince Andrew, by alleged victim “Jane Doe #3, ” who said that Epstein also trafficked her to “many other powerful men, including numerous prominent American politicians, powerful business executives, foreign presidents, a well-known prime minister, and other world leaders.”
On Monday, Dershowitz told CNN in a lengthy, furious interview that the victim was a “serial perjurer, serial liar, serial prostitute.” adding that he has never met the woman in question, the Post said.
“I am telling the truth and I can prove it. They are lying, and I can prove it, ” he told CNN. ”This is a zero-sum game. Either I’ll end up being disbarred and criminally charged or they will be. There’s no grey area here.”
The allegations also prompted multiple denials from Buckingham Palace on behalf of Andrew, the second son of Queen Elizabeth II, along with a rush of coverage for the lawsuit, which was first filed in 2008.
In the court filing submitted last week, the alleged victim accuses Dershowitz of having sexual relations with her “on numerous occasions while she was a minor, not only in Florida, but also on private planes, in New York, New Mexico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.” The document also claims that Dershowitz was “an eye-witness to the sexual abuse of many other minors by Epstein and several of Epstein’s co-conspirators.”
The lawsuit accuses the federal government of violating a victims’ rights statute by failing to consult with Epstein’s alleged victims before signing off on a plea deal that led to Epstein pleading guilty to a Florida charge of soliciting prostitutes. At the time, Epstein was the subject of a federal investigation into allegations of trafficking underage women; the plea deal reportedly allowed him to avoid any potential federal charges stemming from that investigation, the Post said.
Dershowitz’s filings also include a detailed, point-by-point denial of each accusation of sexual conduct made against him. Previously, Dershowitz has said that he will seek the disbarment of the alleged victims’ legal counsel for submitting Doe #3′s accusations, according to the Post.
Dershowitz later told the BBC that he wanted to “bring charges against the client and require her to speak in court, ” adding: “If she believes she has been hurt by me and Prince Andrew, she should be suing us for damages.”
The latest allegations mark the latest scandal to encircle Prince Andrew and also besmirch the reputation of the house of Windsor. Back in 2011, Andrew was forced to apologize and distance himself from Epstein after photographs surfaced showing the two men walking together, shortly after the American had been released from 13 months behind bars.
