The unsealing of thousands of documents relating to Jeffrey Epstein raises fundamental issues regarding the role of courts and the media in dealing with sexual-misconduct accusations.
The disclosure, ordered by a federal judge, made headlines around the world because the material contains the names of — and sometimes accusations against — prominent people.
But some documents exonerate individuals, including me, who were wrongly accused — which the media have largely ignored.
From the day I was falsely accused of Epstein-related sexual misconduct in 2014, I demanded the release of all relevant documents because I had nothing to hide and I was confident full disclosure would prove my absolute innocence.
The unsealing has indeed shown exactly how I was framed nearly 10 years ago and why my accuser, Virginia Giuffre, eventually acknowledged she may have mistakenly identified me.
One media site, TMZ, reviewed all the unsealed documents and headlined its account “Victim Told To Name-Drop Dershowitz To Sell Her Book.”
It reported Sharon Churcher, a British tabloid journalist, urged Giuffre in 2011 to include me in her book proposal, despite the absence of any evidence I did anything wrong, because I’m famous and represented high-profile clients.
Giuffre told Churcher over email she had a ghostwriter to tell her story about being victimized by Epstein, saying, “I wanted to put the names of those a–holes, oops I meant to say, pedo’s, that J.E. sent me to.”
“Don’t forget Alan Dershowitz,” Churcher replied. “J.E. buddy and lawyer — good name for your pitch as he repped Claus van Bulow and a movie was made about that case.”
She acknowledged there was “no proof” I did anything wrong but said “you probably met him when he was hanging [out] w JE.”
(The truth is I never met or saw her.)
Following this smoking-gun email exchange, Giuffre did include me in her book proposal but as someone she saw with Epstein but with whom she did not have sex.
Only after retaining contingency-fee lawyers in 2014 did she “remember” she had sex with me, apparently confusing me with another person she saw with Epstein.
Without giving me an opportunity to disprove the false accusations by my travel and other records, the lawyers put them in a public filing.
The federal judge in the case sanctioned the lawyers for accusing me and struck all reference to me from the pleadings, but the damage had already been done — the false accusation was published around the world, causing me enormous harm.
To her credit, my accuser now recognizes she may have misidentified me, and she has dropped all legal claims against me.
This is what she said Nov. 7, 2022: “I was very young at the time, it was a very stressful and traumatic environment, and Mr. Dershowitz has from the beginning consistently denied these allegations. I now recognize I may have made a mistake in identifying Mr. Dershowitz.”
And Churcher acknowledged in a now-disclosed recorded interview that she knows that I was falsely accused.
Other evidence — including recordings, emails and FBI files that have not yet been unsealed or unredacted — also confirms my innocence.
My lawyers have moved for the release of all relevant evidence but thus far without success.
This episode demonstrates the importance of full disclosure of evidence and the dangers of suppressing material that may help the public decide on issues of innocence or guilt.
Only some of the material sealed in the Giuffre v. Maxwell case has been made available to the public.
The time has come — indeed is long overdue — for all the evidence in that case to be unsealed and unredacted so it can be considered in the open marketplace of ideas and facts.
Notwithstanding the conclusive evidence of my innocence the released documents provide, I am still being canceled by several institutions.
What we know about the Jeffrey Epstein list of 170 associates
- On Wednesday, documents were released naming 170 associates of accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. The list included Michael Jackson, magician David Copperfield, Stephen Hawking, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and former President Bill Clinton — who an Epstein victim said “likes them young, referring to girls.”
- Disgraced royal Prince Andrew, a known friend of Epstein, was named in the documents and was previously sued by Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre, who accused Andrew of sexual misconduct toward her. According to one royal family expert, the Firm “will stand beside” the Duke of York “no matter what.”
- Epstein’s former attorney and friend Alan Dershowitz defended the late multimillionaire sex offender’s associates, saying: “None of us knew about his private life that he kept so secret.” Dershowitz, who is on the list, added that no one should be automatically convicted in the court of public opinion simply for showing up in court documents.
- Epstein’s brother, Mark Epstein, told The Post that the ex-business mogul said he could have upended the 2016 election over what he knew about both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton: “Here’s a direct quote: ‘If I said what I know about both candidates, they’d have to cancel the election.’ That’s what Jeffrey told me in 2016.”
- Only some of the 170 names and their relationships to Epstein have been released. The remainder of the documents will likely become public record throughout the next week.
Keep up with The Post’s live blog on the revelations about Epstein’s associates revealed in the newly released documents here.
A large synagogue in Miami, for example, had asked me to speak about Israel and antisemitism but canceled the speech because I was “on the list.”
It didn’t matter I was on the list because the evidence proved I’m innocent; the mere fact I am on an Epstein list was enough to get me canceled.
This is reminiscent of the 1940s and ’50s, when Sen. Joseph McCarthy would hold up a list of alleged Communists, and those on it would lose their jobs, regardless of the evidence or lack thereof.
The new McCarthyism is just as sinister.
These cancellations are particularly damaging today, when anti-Israel and anti-Jewish hate speech needs to be answered by knowledgeable advocates like me.
But my voice is being silenced by the new McCarthyism and its presumption of guilt by accusation.
Alan Dershowitz is professor emeritus at Harvard Law School. His latest book is “War Against the Jews: How to End Hamas Barbarism.”
