Alan Dershowitz Denies Underaged Sex Claims

(CN) - Attorney Alan Dershowitz denied a woman's claims that he had sexual contact with her when she was underage, allegations that have become a sideshow in a long-running case involving a wealthy Florida financier.

The financier, Jeffrey Epstein, pleaded guilty in June 2008 to state sex charges, but avoided the potential of being prosecuted on more serious federal charges thanks to a deal negotiated partly by Dershowitz.

On July 7, 2008, a woman identified only as "Jane Doe No. 1" came forward to claim Epstein forced her to have sex with older men while she was still a minor, and to insist the wealthy Palm Beach resident should have been prosecuted for the sex trafficking of children, enticed minors to commit prostitution, and committed wire fraud.

She claimed the United States government, the defendant in the case, failed to protect her rights by entering into the settlement without providing her with notice. In response, the federal government argued Doe No. 1 had no claim under the Crime Victims Rights Act because no federal charges were ever filed against Epstein.

Shortly thereafter, a second woman, "Jane Doe No. 2," joined the lawsuit, and U.S. District Judge Kenneth Marra ruled that because the settlement arrived at between Epstein and the government barred his prosecution for alleged crimes committed against the women, they had standing to pursue their claims.

Since then the case has proceeded slowly and largely under the radar; that is, until last week when two more women joined the lawsuit.

In a motion filed on December 30, 2014, "Jane Doe No. 3" claims Epstein routinely made her "available for se to politically-connected and financially-powerful people."

Epstein's purposes in "lending' Jane Doe (along with other young girls) to such powerful people were to ingratiate himself with them for business, personal, political, and financial gain, as well as to obtain potential blackmail information," she says.

Doe claims she had sexual relations with Dershowitz on numerous occasions while she was a minor, "not only in Florida but also on private planes, in New York, New Mexico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands."

She also asserts that Dershowitz witnessed Epstein's sexual abuse of young girls, and claims that the high-profile attorney purposely crafted the settlement with the government to shield not only his client, but also "Any potential co-conspirators of Epstein" from prosecution.

"Thus, Dershowitz helped negotiate an agreement with a provision that provided protection for himself against criminal prosecution in Florida for sexually abusing Jane Doe No. 3," the motion says.

But Doe doesn't stop there. She goes onto claim that she was also prostituted out to Britain's Prince Andrew on at least three occasions including as part of an orgy with numerous other under-aged girls.

"Epstein instructed Jane Doe #3 that she was to give the Prince whatever he demanded and required Jane Doe # 3 to report back to him on the details of the sexual abuse," she says.

Doe claims that the government then tried to keep the immunity provision secret from all Epstein's victims to avoid the controversy that was sure to come with its disclosure.

Buckingham Palace has denied Does allegations about Prince Andrew, who is Queen Elizabeth's second son and is also known as the Duke of York.

Dershowitz filed his own response to Does claims in a 10-page filing on Monday in which he asks to intervene in the case.

The attorney, perhaps best known for defending O.J. Simpson and Claus Von Bulow, describes himself as "the victim of scurrilous allegations" who is now engulfed in "a media firestorm."

He says he wants to intervene solely "[F]or the limited purposes of moving to strike the outrageous and impertinent allegations made against him."

Dershowitz characterizes each of Jane Doe's allegations as "a deliberate lie" and "categorically false."

"Never under any circumstance have I ever had any sexual contact of any kind, which includes massages or any physical contact whatsoever, with Jane Doe #3 ..." Dershowitz says.

"Specifically, Jane Doe #3 has alleged that she had sex with me on Mr. Epstein's Caribbean island. That is a deliberate lie. I was on that island only once in my life, for approximately one day. I was with my wife and daughter during the entire day. My wife, daughter and I slept overnight in the same room. We had dinner with Mr. Epstein and a distinguished professor from the Harvard Business School ... During our entire stay on the island, we never saw any young woman that fit the description of Jane Doe #3. Indeed we do not recall seeing any young women during our entire visit to the island."

Dershowitz is equally emphatic the rest of the alleged encounters.

" There is no conceivable possibility that I could have had any sexual encounter with Jane Doe #3 during that period. Her lawyers could have easily learned this by simply calling and asking me for the specifics," he says.

Dershowitz also attacked Does contention that he drafted Epstein's settlement agreement to partly protect himself.

"That is a total and categorical lie," Dershowitz says. "Several years ago they wrote, asking to depose me on Jeffrey Epstein's activities and whether I ever witnessed any of his alleged crimes. I recall responding that I could not testify as to any privileged information and that I was not a witness to any alleged crimes. They did not follow up with a subpoena.

"Any suggestion that I refused to respond to questions about any allegations regarding my own alleged sexual conduct is totally and categorically false, he says.

In sum, Dershowitz says, "Jane Doe #3 knows that the charges she has leveled against me are totally false and she has alleged them with complete knowledge of their falsity. I believe and allege that her lawyers, Brad Edwards and Paul Cassell, also knew or could have easily learned, that I could not have done and did not do any of the heinous things they allege I did in the pleading. If they had done any reasonable investigation of their client's false allegations, they would have found absolute proof that I did not. They claim in a written statement that they 'investigate' before filing. But they did not specifically state that they investigated this claim against me before filing this false and scurrilous charge."

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