MANHATTAN (CN) – When Alan Dershowitz faces off against the woman who says he was part of Jeffrey Epstein’s underage sex ring, he may not have to go up against his longtime courtroom rival David Boies.
Though the firm Boies Schiller Flexner has vowed to appeal, a federal judge ruled Wednesday that Virginia Giuffre must seek new counsel amid allegations that Boies conspired with her to bring a false claim against the former Harvard professor.
“Plaintiff’s attorneys must be independent and free to challenge the credibility of Boies and other BSF partners in order to test the allegations made in the complaint they drafted and filed,” U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska wrote.
Boies began representing Guiffre after the Miami Herald exposed the sweetheart deal that Epstein cut in 2008 to avoid federal charges of coercing dozens of underage girls into sex.
The investigative series renewed allegations that Epstein ran secret underage sex ring that catered to a roster of famous men — including President Donald Trump, former President Bill Clinton and Prince Andrew. Giuffre says she met Epstein while she was underage, working as a locker-room attendant at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, and that Dershowitz was one of multiple friends and colleagues with whom Epstein later “shared” her.
Dershowitz, who represented Epstein in the 2008 case, in turn accused Guiffre of perjury, saying he never even met her.
When Giuffre sued the famous lawyer for defamation, the lawyer produced a phone call recording in which Boies apparently said he did not believe his client’s allegations.
As quoted in the transcript, Boies said he planned to tell Giuffre that he “reviewed the documentary evidence and we are convinced that your belief [that you had sex with Dershowitz] is wrong, and we would like to explore with you how you could have come to this conclusion that is wrong.”
Judge Preska has described the case as one of “litigation jujitsu.” Earlier this month, she ordered a forensic team to determine whether the tape recording was accurate.
Giuffre and Boies both say the recordings were taken out of context, and Boies has since signed an affidavit saying he has become convinced of Giuffre’s allegations and that Dershowtiz’s denials were not credible.
Dershowitz has also said he has emails showing Giuffre lied about their sexual relationship and invited the FBI to attend the trial.
Ultimately, however Preska found that Boies Schiller cannot represent Giuffre in the defamation case because Boies and other lawyers at the firm would be “essential trial witnesses” in the case.
Dershowitz had also sought to dismiss the case outright, but Preska found ample evidence to allow the case to proceed.
“If at trial Giuffre fails to prove that she was ‘forced to have sex with Alan Dershowitz’ or if Dershowitz proves that he did not have sex with her at all, then the truth or falsity of his statements will be established,” Preska wrote.
Sigrid McCawley, one of Giuffre’s attorneys at Boies Schiller, said she was pleased the defamation case was going forward.
“The decision to disqualify our firm, which has had the privilege of representing Virginia and advocating for her brave voice and call for justice for the past five years, is deeply disappointing and will be promptly appealed,” McCawley said in a statement.
In a statement, Dershowitz said he “is extremely pleased that the Boies firm has been disqualified and that its lawyers will be fully available to him as witnesses in the case.”
Though still of the mind that the case should have been dismissed, Dershowitz said “is gratified that the important First Amendment freedoms” he raised “will continue to be considered by the trial court and are fully preserved.”
Preska ordered Giuffre to obtain new counsel and submit a proposed discovery plan by Nov. 13.
While the case has been underway, New York prosecutors sought to finally bring Epstein to justice. He was found dead of an apparent suicide while awaiting trial in a federal detention center.
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