HOW SLY SNAKE CHARMED LEGAL EAGLE
CELEBRITY defense attorney Alan Dershowitz has made a career out of representing vile characters — including junkbond king Michael Milken, O.J. Simpson and wife-poisoner Claus von Bülow — but perhaps the most despicable of all was pedophile Jeffrey Epstein! They met at a posh party on Martha’s Vineyard in 1996, and Dershowitz found his fellow Brooklynite to be “brilliant.” “He was feisty, he was utterly politically incorrect,” recalls Dershowitz. “He was interesting to be with.”
Their bond tightened after Epstein opened an office near Harvard, where Dershowitz was a law school professor. The lawyer says he was interested in Epstein’s “quirky mind.”
The friendship blossomed as Dershowitz trusted Epstein to read drafts of his books and help him invest his money. He also spent time as a guest at Epstein properties and sometimes accompanied the financier on his private plane, nicknamed the Lolita Expr Express. Dershowitz ins insists the trips were fa family-oriented, i including a visit to Epstein’s Palm Beach mansion so h he could watch his gra g granddaughter play in a ssoccocc soccer tournament. In 2005, when Epstein found out hhis sexually he was being abusing investigated for u underage girls, Dershowitz infamously h helped him negotiate a sweetheart th plea deal.
But after the severity of Epstein’s horrific crimes later came to light, Dershowitz began distancing himself from his onetime pal — insisting he never witnessed the pervert’s evil behavior.
“He was an acquaintance,” Dershowitz now says. “In retrospect, I wish I hadn’t taken the case, but I didn’t see a problem with taking the case. We didn’t have a close, personal relationship.”