Virginia Giuffre, Alan Dershowitz, And David Boies Reach A Settlement

Giuffre said she 'may have made a mistake' in accusing Dershowitz.

Alan Dershowitz (left) and David Boies in happier times—specifically, a May 2001 conference at Cardozo Law (photo by Photo by Barbara Alper via Getty Images).

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If these cases can settle, then any case can.

One of the most riveting dramas in the legal world in recent years was the tangled web of lawsuits involving Virginia Giuffre, perhaps the most prominent victim of notorious sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, and two titans of the legal world, retired Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz and leading litigator David Boies. The level of vitriol in the litigation was remarkable and it had dragged on for years, seemingly with no end in sight.

In 2014, Giuffre accused Dershowitz, who had represented the late Jeffrey Epstein as a client, of having sex with her when she was underage. Specifically, she claimed that Epstein had sexually trafficked her to Dershowitz between 2000 and 2002. Dershowitz vehemently denied her claims, which lacked the extensive corroboration of her claims against Epstein. At the same time, it was challenging for Dershowitz to conclusively disprove Giuffre’s allegations, in part because of how much time he had spent in Epstein’s company or at one of his homes.

Giuffre’s accusations against Dershowitz spawned a series of defamation lawsuits. First, after Dershowitz denied her claims by calling her a “total liar” and an extortionist, Giuffre sued him for defamation, in April 2019. Dershowitz countersued Giuffre for defamation, in November 2019. Boies then sued Dershowitz, based on Dershowitz’s claims that Boies, who represented Giuffre, pressured her to lie as part of an extortion plot. Finally, Dershowitz sued Boies, also for defamation. Got all that?

Actually, the good news is you don’t need to keep track of any of these lawsuits, since they’re all going away. The three parties just reached a global settlement that resolves all of their pending litigation. All the cases will be dismissed and no money is changing hands, with all parties bearing their own costs and legal fees.

It appears the linchpin was Giuffre’s willingness to admit that her sexual-assault accusations against Dershowitz could be mistaken. In her statement, reprinted below, Giuffre said that although she “long believed” she was trafficked to Dershowitz, she “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.” This statement is similar to the statement Dershowitz proposed she make back in 2015: “The events at issue occurred approximately 15 years ago when I was a teenager. Although I believed then and continued to believe that AD was the person with whom I had sex, recent developments raise the possibility that this may be a case of mistaken identification.”

Boies and Dershowitz, who traded vicious barbs during the pendency of these cases, issued surprisingly civil statements as well (reprinted below). Boies acknowledged that Dershowitz “has suffered greatly from the allegation of sexual abuse made against him—an allegation that he has consistently, and vehemently, denied,” and Boies added that he “appreciate[d] Mr. Dershowitz’s recognition that I was not engaged in an extortion plot or in suborning perjury.” Meanwhile, Dershowitz declared that Giuffre “is to be commended for her courage in now stating publicly that she may have been mistaken about me,” as well as for “her work combatting the evil of sex trafficking,” and further stated that his allegations against Boies were “mistaken.”

As Virginia Giuffre said, “This litigation has been very stressful and burdensome for me and my family, and we believe it is time to bring it to an end and move on with our lives.” I suspect that Alan Dershowitz and David Boies feel the same way.

STATEMENTS FROM VIRGINIA GIUFFRE, DAVID BOIES, AND ALAN DERSHOWITZ

FROM ALL PARTIES:

Virginia Giuffre, David Boies, and Alan Dershowitz have today dismissed with prejudice all pending litigation. The resolution of the litigation is accompanied by the following statements. The resolution does not involve the payment of any money by anyone or anything else.

FROM VIRGINIA GIUFFRE:

I have long believed that I was trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein to Alan Dershowitz. However, 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. This litigation has been very stressful and burdensome for me and my family, and we believe it is time to bring it to an end and move on with our lives.

FROM DAVID BOIES:

I agree with Mr. Dershowitz and Ms. Giuffre that the time has come to end this litigation and move on. | know that Alan Dershowitz has suffered greatly from the allegation of sexual abuse made against him—an allegation that he has consistently, and vehemently, denied. I also know that this litigation has imposed, and continues to impose, a significant burden on Ms. Giuffre. I appreciate Mr. Dershowitz’s recognition that I was not engaged in an extortion plot or in suborning perjury. I accept each of their statements in the spirit in which they are made, and I wish each of them well.

FROM ALAN DERSHOWITZ:

As I have said from the beginning, I never had sex with Ms. Giuffre. I have nevertheless come to believe that at the time she accused me she believed what she said. Ms. Giuffre is to be commended for her courage in now stating publicly that she may have been mistaken about me. She has suffered much at the hands of Jeffrey Epstein, and I commend her work combatting the evil of sex trafficking. I also now believe that my allegations that David Boies engaged in an extortion plot and in suborning perjury were mistaken.

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