Alan Dershowitz is still 'technically' alleged serial pedophile Jeffery Epstein's lawyer
Alan Dershowitz, a prominent legal analyst who frequently defends President Trump on TV, was part of a high-powered legal team that secured a remarkably lenient 13-month county-jail sentence for well-connected financier Jeffrey Epstein in 2008, the Miami Herald reported last week. Epstein pleaded guilty to two state counts of soliciting prostitutes, one of whom was 14, but he was under FBI investigation at the time for running what the Herald describes as a sexual pyramid scheme involving girls as young as 13 recruited to massage him, then have sex.
The highly unusual 2007 federal non-prosecution deal was kept sealed, and Dershowitz and Epstein's other lawyers reportedly helped write it with Miami federal prosecutors, primarily Alexander Acosta, now Trump's labor secretary. On Saturday, Dershowitz, 80, told Axios that Epstein "has called me a couple of times about legal issues, because I'm still technically his lawyer. ... But I haven't had any social, or any other kind of contact. ... You never stop being a person's lawyer."
One of the women who accuses Epstein of sexual predation, Virginia Roberts, also said in a court document that through Epstein, Dershowitz had sex with her several times when she was 16, a charge Dershowitz denies and likened to extortion. Dershowitz told Axios that when Epstein lent his family his Palm Beach house one week, "I had a therapeutic massage with an old old Russian," but he'd had no idea "anything improper had even taken place in that house."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
You can learn about the members of Epstein's legal team, including Whitewater prosecutor Kenneth Starr, and other figures in Epstein's address book, like Trump and former President Bill Clinton, in a Miami Herald interactive report and this video:
Roberts also told her story to the Herald, and it contains some descriptions of sex acts.
You can read more about the Epstein case at the Miami Herald, and watch a synopsis of their reporting in a disturbing 12-minute mini-documentary.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
The issue of women and conscription
Under the radar Ukraine military adviser hints at widening draft to women, as other countries weigh defence options amid global insecurity
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
AI is causing concern among the LGBTQ community
In the Spotlight One critic believes that AI will 'always fail LGBTQ people'
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
'Modern presidents exercise power undreamed of by the Founding Fathers'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
Parents of school shooter sentenced to 10-15 years
Speed Read Jennifer and James Crumbley are the first parents to be convicted in a US mass shooting
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Unlicensed dealers and black market guns
Speed Read 68,000 illegally trafficked guns were sold in a five year period, said ATF
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Bankman-Fried gets 25 years for fraud
Speed Read Former "crypto king" Sam Bankman-Fried will report to federal prison
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Feds raid Diddy homes in alleged sex trafficking case
Speed Read Homeland Security raided the properties of hip hop mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
'Goon Squad' cops sentenced for torturing 2 Black men
Speed Read The former Mississippi law enforcement officers pleaded guilty last year
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Michigan shooter's dad guilty of manslaughter
speed read James Crumbley failed to prevent his son from killing four students at Oxford High School in 2021
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Shooting at Chiefs victory rally kills 1, injures 21
Speed Read Gunfire broke out at the Kansas City Chiefs' Super Bowl victory parade in Missouri
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Court rules Josef Fritzl can be moved to normal prison
Speed Read 'Notorious' criminal, now 88, was convicted for raping, committing incest and imprisoning his daughter
By Richard Windsor, The Week UK Published