The Bill Cosby defense is now the Bill Cosby offense.
Virginia Roberts is suing British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell – whom she accuses of pimping her out as a teen “sex slave” to sleazy billionaire Jeffrey Epstein – for defamation because the media heiress called the allegations “obvious lies.”
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Lawyers for Roberts, 23, who now goes by her married name Giuffre, recently used a Cosby defense to argue the defamation case should be allowed to continue because an accuser of the fallen funnyman was able to proceed with a similar lawsuit.
A judge threw out Cosby accuser Renita Hill’s claim, filed in Pennsylvania federal court, on Jan. 21 – and Maxwell’s lawyers are using the judge’s legal reasoning to bolster their arguments for dismissal.
Cosby had described Hill’s allegations against him as “unsubstantiated, fantastical stories … (that) have escalated far past the point of absurdity.”
The judge in Hill’s case viewed Cosby’s denials as protected “opinionated speech” and a “legal position” – but did not think they implied that Hill is a “liar and an extortionist, ” Maxwell’s lawyers claim.
Sigrid McCawley, who’s representing Giuffre, counters the Maxwell’s statements did lead to inferences that the alleged sex trafficking victim was a ‘”liar and an extortionist.’”
“In vivid contrast, Maxwell called Ms. Giuffre’s assertions of sexual abuse ‘obvious lies, “’ McCawley argues in a recent Manhattan federal court filing.
“It is axiomatic that a person telling ‘obvious lies’ is a liar, and, therefore, the reasoning employed by the Hill court is inapplicable to the statements made by Maxwell.”
Giuffre claims Maxwell lured her into working as a “masseuse” for Epstein in 1999. She alleges that Maxwell and Epstein forced her into sex with “powerful men, ” such as Britain’s Prince Andrew.
Giuffre says she fled the country as a teen to escape Epstein.
The investment manager spent a year and a half in prison after copping to a state charge of soliciting a 14-year-old prostitute in June 2008.
This story was first published at Daily New SX, by Daniel McDonald
