Netflix’s docu-series about the allegations against sex offender Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich, earned the streaming service a new lawsuit last week. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz filed a new lawsuit against Netflix, claiming that its portrayal of him was libelous. Dershowitz also says that the producers misled him when he agreed to be interviewed for the series.
Filthy Rich came out in May of 2020, summarizing the many allegations against Epstein, providing evidence and implicating some of his closest associates along the way — including his long-time friend and lawyer Dershowitz. In the Netflix original series, he is accused of sexually assaulting Virginia Roberts Giuffre as a part of Epstein’s alleged sex trafficking and pedophilia operations. Dershowitz denies this charge and now says that the damage to his reputation done by the documentary is impacting his career.
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“It wasn’t a ‘he said/she said’ situation, however, given Professor Dershowitz’s totality of the evidence establishing he never had sex with Giuffre,” the lawsuit reads. “To have presented that evidence in Filthy Rich, as had been promised, would have undercut the credibility of Brad Edwards, Sigrid McCawley and Giuffre — the very people whose interviewed comments Filthy Rich depended upon.”
Dershowitz is suing Netflix for libel, contract and fraudulent inducement, asserting that it violated the agreement he made in order to be interviewed for the series at all. He already has an ongoing lawsuit against Giuffre personally and is also suing the producers of Filthy Rich — Leroy & Morton Productions and Radical Media.
Dershowitz represented Epstein in 2008 when he was investigated for multiple accusations of soliciting sex from minors. That investigation ended in a controversial non-prosecution agreement with law enforcement, which Dershowitz defended ardently in the documentary. He also represented Epstein later that same year when he pleaded guilty to procuring a minor for prostitution. Epstein served 18 months in prison.
Dershowitz has had many other high-profile controversial clients over the years, including Harvey Weinstein and O.J. Simpson. He is currently embroiled in another lawsuit against CNN over the network’s coverage of him while he represented former President Donald Trump in 2020.
All four episodes of Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich are streaming now on Netflix. A new docu-series about the case called Epstein’s Shadow: Ghislaine Maxwell premieres on Peacock on June 24. You can get a free trial of Peacock here.
