Jeffrey Epstein’s former lawyer and friend, Alan Dershowitz, defended an associate of the late billionaire sex offender, whose name will soon be released as part of the court’s decision, saying: “None of us know about his secret private life.”
The Harvard Law School professor once said in an interview with NewsNation’s Leland Vitters on Tuesday that no one should be automatically convicted in the court of public opinion just for appearing on Epstein’s list.
“You can judge them for having shown poor judgment, but you cannot conclude that any accusation against them is true without hearing the evidence,” the legal scholar said.
More than 150 people with ties to the disgraced financier, previously known only as “John Does” and “Jane Does,” are expected to be revealed for the first time in court records that a federal judge ordered unsealed last month.
“There are some people who may be embarrassed by the fact that they were associated with Epstein, but remember, a lot of people were associated with Epstein before he was convicted,” Dershowitz said.
Alan Dershowitz defends associate Jeffrey Epstein before release of documents related to his sex-trafficking ring. Getty Images Dershowitz, right, was Epstein’s lawyer once and appears several times on the financier’s “Lolita Express” jet flight log. Corbis via Getty Images
The 85-year-old lawyer suggested that the judge who ordered the release of the names was “selective” in what he agreed to make public, which he said was “unfair.”
“I want everything out, every document, every piece of paper, half-truths or lies,” Dershowtiz told Vitters. “And I want them out for personal reasons because I know that they will prove what I said from day one that I did nothing wrong.”
Dershowitz pointed out that Virginia Giuffre, an alleged victim of Epstein’s sex-trafficking ring who previously accused the lawyer of sexually abusing her two decades ago, agreed in November to drop a defamation lawsuit against her, after admitting that she “may have made a mistake” when she named him as one of the men she was forced to have sex with.
Epstein died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges in prison. AP
“And the woman who accused me later admitted that she probably misidentified me, confused me with someone else, so I wanted everything out from the beginning because I had nothing to hide,” Dershowitz said.
But the former professor said he understands why some people don’t want their names associated with Epstein, who died by suicide in 2019 in a federal prison while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.
“Any association with Jeffrey Epstein is very, very negative,” Dershowitz said. “Anyone who knew Epstein, whether you knew him before or after, people would say, ‘Oh my God, you know Epstein, you must have done something wrong.’ That doesn’t necessarily follow.”
Dershowitz said Virginia Giuffre, who previously accused him of sexual misconduct, later dropped her allegations against him. TNS
Dershowtiz appears several times in Epstein’s infamous “Lolita Express” jet flight log, along with former Presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, Prince Andrew and former US Senator George Mitchell (D-Maine).
The log was released in 2021 during the high-profile trial of Epstein’s girlfriend and accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, who is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence on sex-trafficking and conspiracy charges.
Categories: Trending
Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
