This time the big mouth of Alan Dershowitz may have bitten off more than he can chew. When a women told the story of how when she was a 15-year-old girl she was lured into becoming a prostitute by Jeffrey Epstein a close friend of Alan Dershowitz and how as a young girl she was forced by Epstein into prostituting herself to Alan who had to be in his sixties and having sex with him he was squealing like a pig over all the media where he could gain a forum that he had nothing to do with the girl.
Alan’s tactic was to scare off the accuser Virginia Roberts and to intimidate her lawyers. It’s apparently a tactic he used in the past. The accusation against Alan came out on December 30, 2014, in a court filing where Virginia told of at least two of the men who she had granted sexual favors to: Alan and Prince Andrew of Great Britain. We’ve learned since that time that with respect to the prince she has photographs showing her with him and kept a diary that spelled out her illicit transactions with him in London.
You see what was going on according to Virginia is that she said she was flying around at Jeffrey Epstein’s direction from state to state and overseas for the purpose of engaging in sex with older men which he believed helped his businesses. I always thought there was a federal law against having a woman moved from state to state called the Mann Act or the White Slave Traffic Act punishable by ten years in prison. If what Virginia alleges is true then you’d think the FBI and U.S. attorney would have been all over this guy Epstein but there seems little signs of it. In fact, the opposite seems to be the case. She’s getting little to no cooperation.
By January 5, 2015 Alan was in full defense mode. It was like he took a page from Joseph Goebbels who said: “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.” I’m not suggesting Alan was telling a lie about his relationship with Virginia Roberts, if any. All I am stating is that he repeated a big denial of the charges and he has kept repeating it hoping that people will eventually come to believe it.
He told as reported in Reuters on January 5, 2015, that he “would file a defamation lawsuit based on the lawyers’ public statements about the case. He also plans to file complaints with their respective states’ disciplinary boards asking that they be disbarred.” Alan’s immediate instinct was to attack the lawyers expecting them to back off.
It is reported Alan also “says that the sex claims are a “completely, totally fabricated, made-up story” and that he is an “innocent victim of an extortion conspiracy.” Alan seems to have a fondness for the word “extortion” as we’ve seen. But this time he may have slipped. One legal expert wrote: “That itself could be viewed as defamatory since it makes the lawyers active participants in such extortion and any such statements made in public would be unprotected by privilege governing statements in court.”
The lawyers didn’t back off. They doubled down. They brought their own suit against Alan for defamation. Alan’s complaint that he didn’t have a forum into which to clear his name which I wrote about previously evaporated with that suit.
It should be noted that the lawyers Alan is seeking to disbar are no fly by night attorneys. These two lawyers were described as: “Paul Cassell and Bradley Edwards. Edwards is a Florida attorney representing Epstein’s victims pro bono. Cassell is a University of Utah law professor focusing on crime victims’ rights. He argued before SCOTUS on behalf of child pornography victim Amy Unknown in last term’s Paroline v. United States, for example. He is a former D.C. Circuit and Supreme Court clerk, and a former Assistant U.S. Attorney. Most notably, Cassell is a former U.S. District Judge. Neither he nor Edwards are amateurs.”
The legal expert mentioned above ended his column saying: “this is a mess and it is likely to get messier.” I wholeheartedly concur with that statement. This is a case where powerful forces of connections and influence with oodles of money lining up on one side; the victim of sexual abuse with little power on the other. It will be a case to let us take a look at justice in America. It is a case that deserves watching no matter how messy it gets.
Alan Dershowitz is a raging megalomaniac. Here is a man with so much power and influence that he gets a column published in the Wall Street Journal. And despite that, all he does is slander and attack. He is a lawyer who uses his considerable power for ill and for personal gain. Even if we presume that Alan Dershowitz did not have sex with Jane Doe 3, it is still entirely possible that Jane Doe 3 was so traumatized by her experiences as a teenager that she truly believes what she claims. And it is a fact that Dershowitz was aware that she was being sexually exploited, and it is a fact that Dershowitz used his considerable legal clout and power to protect Epstein. I hope Epstein’s plea deal is overturned and I hope that Dershowitz is held accountable for unethical practices.
I hope Dershowitze
Those of you interested in Dershowitz’s apparent effort to distance himself from Epstein should have a look at a 2003 story in the Harvard Crimson. (It was written after Jeffrey dropped $30 million on the school.) In it, Epstein’s friends fawn over him — endlessly it may seem to the casual reader. Here’s my favorite quote:
“Jeffrey has so much money that you can’t give him anything,” Dershowitz says. “The only gift you can give him is interesting people, and someone gave me to him as a gift.”
Good Lord.
Also, New York magazine did a terrific story on Epstein in December 2007, after allegations about his sexcapades became public. I think the writer, Philip Weiss, captured Epstein’s outlook perfectly: “Throughout his ordeal, Epstein maintained the air that there was nothing sordid about his actions. His wealth seems to have endowed him with utter shamelessness, the emperor’s new clothes with an erection.”
The Harvard Crimson piece: http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2003/5/1/mogul-donor-gives-harvard-more-than/?page=5
The New York magazine article: http://nymag.com/news/features/41826/
Paraphrasing Mr. Gasgrind Dershowitz:a fool for client. Do I look like pedphile? The answer is an obvious Yes. I always travel with my wife. Oh, flight log, sometimes I travel without my wife. I have never had a massage when I visited j. Epstein. Later, oh, once I received a massage but she was an adult woman of about 35. Jane doe’ s lawyers are knowingly marketing sleaze. Oh I better shut up or I might be sued for defamation. Oops. I am not close friends with espstein. Oh, I always let Jeffrey read my books before I have them published. This guy is a lying gas bag. He needs to, at the very least, be objectively, impartially and judiciously investigated. Making objectionable remarks about a 15 year-old girl by an alleged pedophile is not a good sign of common human decency. Like the old addage goes, there are always two sides to a story. The cruel and viscious way an adult male attacks a young underage girl physically, not to mention psychologically, are obvious signs of a perpetrator attempting to silence his victims. Mr. Gasgrind will continue to have his apostles, apostates and apologists. Using loaded words like, “serial,” to describe a victim necessarily means that he is trolling for support from a segment of the population based on his direct “supposed” victimization. This is insulting.
Like the banks, maybe his Academic proponents think he is too big to fail no matter how much of a moral failure he is.
Matt:
There’s no question about the fact that Dershowitz has shattered all existing records for “The lady doth protest too much.” By now, even the folks in the remotest reaches of Nepal know that the famous American attorney vehemently denies being a pederast. Dershowitz has also been outmaneuvered by the lawyers that he tried to defame. This is a man desperately in need of an attorney!!!
Dan:
More than being in desperate need of an attorney, I’m sure he has a pocketful rushing around for him right now signing his blues, he is in desperate need of shutting his big mouth. He can only make matters worse for himself.
Matt: I stand corrected. Dershowitz is in need of daily, nay hourly, shots of Novocain. The man actually needs a dentist.
Matt:
Elmer commented on the situation in Ukraine. He held strong nationalist views, and, heartily approved forceful measures for dealing with the Russians. Elmer enthusiastically supported the Maidan demonstrators.
Some members of the Ukrainian Diaspora have returned to Ukraine for the apocalyptic battle with Putin. Despite momentous events in the East, we haven’t received any recent info from Elmer. He is one of my favorite conversants. I’d never been called a “sovnik” before. It set me off on a intellectual journey through the history of Ukraine. In light of the constantly breaking news from Ukraine, I was hoping he’d be around to comment.
Elmer:
Considering the direction “peace” negotiations are going, is Kyiv planning for a low-intensity partisan campaign (LIC) in the East.” How many “little blue men” are running around Ukraine? Where’s Poland in all this? Will Warsaw allow American SF, and, Ukrainian forces, to operate from bases on Polish territory in the event that the Russian Army rolls on down to the Dniepr?
I see that Yarosh was wounded, but, has now, returned to the front. If he survives, he may someday lead Ukraine.
John Connolly is apparently having his hearing tomorrow regarding the reversal of his conviction, should be interesting
Jim:
Lincoln’s birthday is a good time to have a hearing on one’s request to be set free. But maybe not in a Southern state. I’m told it will be on the internet but I’m not sure where or how to get it. I’m wondering even if he wins there can’t the prosecutors still appeal to a higher court and keep him locked up for who knows how long. At least it is back on the agenda and I’m hoping the poor guy gets a break before too long.
Matt:
Do you think Elmer is dead?
Khalid:
Can’t answer the question since not quite sure what Elmer you are wondering about.
Khalid:
Elmer surfaced in comments who was worse Whitey or Epstein. I told him I was going to write on Ukraine to post Sunday so he may give us an update then.
Here’s one possible similarity between Bulger and Dershowitz. Today you wrote about Dershowitz , “All I am stating is that he repeated a big denial of the charges and he has kept repeating it hoping that people will eventually come to believe it.”
That’s a good description of Sen. Bulger’s denial that he had retaliated against Housing Court Judge Daher. Bulger accused Daher of deliberately lying, when of course it was he who was lying. And in a strange kind of way, Bulger’s big lie worked. Not that anyone seriously thinks he wasn’t retaliating, but there are people today who still think he is somehow innocent of the charge.
Bob:
Good point.
I see that Dershowitz continues to vigorously attack the credibility of his accuser, but he seems to have switched tactics a bit. He no longer accuses the woman’s lawyers of behaving unethically. I guess the defamation lawsuit they filed against him has had an effect. This is the link to a story about an interview he gave to a TV reporter in Miami a couple of weeks ago: http://www.local10.com/news/alan-dershowitz-sex-slave-accuser-is-serial-liar-prostitute/30868668
Somewhat weirdly, I thought, Dershowitz admitted to have a single massage at Jeffrey Epstein’s mansion. The massage, he said, was performed by an adult woman.
“I kept my underwear on during the massage,” he told the reporter. “I don’t like massages particularly.”
I studied Dershowitz’s tone of voice and facial expression as he said this for a flicker of irony or humor. There was none. The man seems to operate at one speed.
I don’t blame Dershowitz for fighting this allegations, which are absolutely devastating to his personal reputation. But it’s clear to me that he’s not the man to do it. As the old saw goes, a lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client.
Dan:
Dershowitz has no choice but to defend himself like he is doing because as you suggest he is a one pony show but doing what he is doing he is digging himself deeper and deeper into a hole. He should have come out with one word “nonsense” when asked about the allegations. Unfortunately he can’t keep his mouth shut. About that massage, what Virginia Roberts said was that the word “massage” was a code word for sexual relations. It was surprising to hear Dershowitz admit to getting a massage, I’m sure he didn’t refer to it in the same way Epstein did, but what’s he doing at a guy’s house getting a massage even if it was done by an adult woman. I agree his statement he kept his briefs on is pretty strange – as I said where there’s smoke there’s fire and this thing seems to be turning into a blaze and Alan keeps stoking it more and more.