Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz has reportedly asked a federal judge to dismiss a defamation lawsuit filed by a woman who alleges he had sex with her when she was 16, after previously stating that he would “welcome” the legal action as a means to prove she was lying. According to The Miami Herald, Dershowitz called for the dismissal of Virginia Roberts Giuffre’s defamation suit against him on “constitutional grounds”—arguing that the media interviews in which he accused Giuffre of lying were protected free speech. Dershowitz previously told the Herald he would “welcome this lawsuit because everything in the complaint is false and [he would] be able to disprove all of this in a court of law.” Giuffre and her lawyer filed their complaint in April. Giuffre has alleged that she was trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein to have sex with Dershowitz and other powerful men. Dershowitz has maintained that Giuffre made the story up as part of a scheme to get a hefty settlement from Leslie Wexner, a billionaire client of Epstein’s investment firm. On top of Giuffre’s accusations, Dershowitz has also been accused of having sex with another young woman in Epstein’s alleged sex trafficking operation. He has denied all the allegations.
