Harvard Law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz on Wednesday filed an $80 million lawsuit against Netflix over the four-part documentary Filthy Rich, which debuted on the streamer last year. AP broke the story.
Director Lisa Bryant’s docuseries centers on stories from survivors of abuse at the hands of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who used his wealth, power and connections to carry out his abuses. Epstein committed suicide in his jail cell in 2019.
One of the survivors, Virgina Giuffre, says she was 17 when she was hired as a masseuse for Epstein, was soon groomed to have sex with Epstein, Dershowitz and other powerful men as part of a sex-trafficking ring.
Dershowitz, who once defended Epstein in a Florida case, denies Giuffre’s claims and has called her “a serial liar who has deliberately made up stories about me and others in the hopes of cashing in on millions of dollars.”
His lawsuit, filed Wednesday in Miami federal court, contends that Netflix intentionally misled Dershowitz about his appearance in the documentary. Dershowitz also claims Netflix defamed him by falsely asserting in the series that he had sex with one of Epstein’s victims.
“Giuffre’s accusations that she had sex with Professor Dershowitz are categorically false, and Professor Dershowitz has denied and disproved the accusations — including under oath subject to the penalties of perjury,” the lawsuit says.