Two lawyers have dropped
defamation claims they filed in Florida against Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz involving their allegations of sexual misconduct against him.
The attorneys, Bradley Edwards and Paul Cassell, were involved in a lawsuit against convicted sexual offender and former
Palm Beach financier Jeffrey Epstein. They filed for damages against Dershowitz, who was representing Epstein, after he accused them of lying in claiming that Epstein had arranged sexual trysts between an underage female and Dershowitz.
The woman in the suit also claimed that Epstein had made arrangements for her to have sex with Britain's Prince Andrew.
Dershowitz and the prince vehemently denied the claims, and Epstein called the accusations old and discredited.
"I am pleased that the litigation has concluded and I am gratified by the joint statement issued today by [Civil Mediator] Jeffrey E. Streitfeld on behalf of the parties, in which 'Edwards and Cassell acknowledge that it was a mistake to have filed sexual misconduct accusations against Dershowitz and the sexual misconduct accusations made in all public filings (including all exhibits) are hereby withdrawn,'" said Dershowitz.
In a joint statement from Edwards, Cassell, and Dershowitz, it was noted that Dershowitz had accused the attorneys for the woman of not performing due diligence before accusing Dershowitz of misconduct. The attorneys denied the contention, suing Dershowitz, to which he countersued, accusing them of making false claims against him.
The woman, named in the statement as Virginia Roberts, is called Virginia Giuffre in court documents.
Dershowitz provided travel, records and other evidence to establish that he was not present when the misconduct allegedly occurred, the statement noted, and both parties decided to dismiss their actions.
In the
court documents filed Friday by Edwards and Cassell, they agreed to settle the case. The attorneys pointed out that the withdrawal "is not intended to be, and should not be construed as being, an acknowledgement by Edwards and Cassell that the allegations made by Ms. Giuffre were mistaken."
They did, however, acknowledge that the public filing in the case against Epstein of their client's allegations against Dershowitz became a "major distraction from the merits of the well-founded Crime Victims' Rights Act case by causing delay and, as a consequence, turned out to have been a tactical mistake." Because of this, they have "chosen to withdraw the referenced filing as a condition of settlement."
In exchange, Streitfeld said in the joint statement, Dershowitz withdrew his accusations that the attorneys acted unethically and all parties said they have no intention of repeating the allegations.
Epstein, a New York financier, pleaded guilty in a Florida state court in 2008 to procuring an underage girl for prostitution. He served a year in jail, and the Justice Department agreed not to bring federal charges.
Meanwhile, the website
Above the Law reports that a spokesman for Boies, Schiller & Flexner, which also represents Giuffre, issued a statement saying that she "was not a party to that [defamation] lawsuit and was not a party to the settlement."
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