Dersh fights to keep taxes from Ep victim
Alan Dershowitz is following in the footsteps of his former client President Donald Trump and fighting in court to keep his tax returns confidential.
The ongoing battle over the prominent Harvard Law School professor’s financial records comes in a suit brought by Virginia Giuffre, who says she was trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein when she was underage. Giuffre says Epstein lent her for sex to Dershowitz (inset), who represented Epstein when the financier was being investigated by the feds in 2007.
The returns, Giuffre argues, are relevant to claims that Dershowitz suffered “reputational harm” due to her allegations. In an ironic twist, Giuffre’s legal team says that Dershowitz’s tax returns could show he lost money — through his representation of Trump.
“[Dershowitz’s] tax returns may contain evidence of general reputational harm linked to defendant’s representation and public defense of President Donald Trump, rather than any comments” from Giuffre, her attorney Nicole Moss wrote.
In filings, Dershowitz writes he files jointly with his wife and that she objects to disclosing the documents. He offered to waive any legal claims related to loss of income.
“I just don’t want them to be rummaging through my charitable contributions, my health, my medical records and things of that kind,” Dershowitz told the Daily News.
That didn’t satisfy Giuffre, who disclosed her own tax returns to Dershowitz’s legal team years ago. Moss called Dershowitz’s tactics “unacceptable behavior.”
Giuffre sued the 83-year-old Dershowitz for defamation in April 2019 for repeatedly smearing her in public as a liar for claiming Epstein forced her to sleep with him as a teen.
Dershowitz, who represented Epstein in the late 2000s, is countersuing in Manhattan Federal Court, claiming Giuffre fabricated the accusations as part of an extortion plot targeting former Victoria’s Secret CEO Leslie Wexner.
“I have nothing to hide because I never met her. Never touched her. Never had any contact with her, so I have absolutely nothing to hide, and I’m looking forward to trial, at which her whole history comes out,” Dershowitz said. “She’s not going to get a penny from me. I did nothing wrong.”