Letter to the Editor: Article Misrepresented Dershowitz

To the editor,

The Crimson story regarding Jeffrey Epstein omitted the central point I made in my interview with the reporter. I welcome an investigation by Harvard or any other institution, including prosecutors, into the wilfully false charges made by Virginia Roberts for financial gain. Omitting this crucial statement is irresponsible and unethical journalism.

Virginia Roberts leveled her false accusations four years ago. At the time, I disproved them categorically. The matter was put to rest, with even her lawyers admitting that it was a mistake and wrong. Then four years later the Miami Herald recycled this false accusation and The Crimson reported on the Herald’s recycled report. I wrote a letter to the editor of the Herald pointing to the incontrovertible evidence that Roberts made up the accusation out of whole cloth in order to obtain millions of dollars from Leslie Wexner.

I was able to disprove Roberts’ false accusation by producing all of my travel, AmEx, and TV appearance records which showed where I was, and, more importantly, where I wasn’t during the entire period Virginia Roberts was in contact with Jeffrey Epstein. These records prove incontrovertibly that I could not have been, and was not, where Roberts’ falsely claimed to have met me — a Caribbean Island, a New Mexico Ranch, a private jet, a Palm Beach mansion — during the relevant time period.

I also called for an independent investigation by the former Director of the F.B.I., a highly respected former federal judge and assistant U.S. attorney. He reviewed all of the records and other evidence and concluded that “the totality of the evidence … refutes the allegations.”

In addition, the judge before whom the accusation was made struck the accusation from the record and sanctioned her lawyers for filing it. One of her own lawyers then acknowledged that his client was “wrong” “simply wrong,” and her other lawyers formally withdrew the accusation, admitting it was a “mistake.”

Not only did Virginia Roberts lie about me, she lied about Al and Tipper Gore and President Bill Clinton claiming that she met the three of them on Jeffrey Epstein’s island — a claim refuted by secret service records that established that none of the three were on that island during that period of time.

There is evidence that directly proves I was framed. These include emails between Roberts and a journalist, a book manuscript by Roberts and a legal brief that are smoking guns showing that I was “deliberately framed for financial reasons.” These exculpatory documents have been sealed by Roberts’ lawyers and I am seeking to make them public.

Roberts' closest friend told me that Roberts told her she “felt pressure to go after [Dershowitz]” in order to obtain money from Leslie Wexner and that Roberts had never previously included me among the people with whom she claimed to have had sex. I have a tape recording of this conversation.

Not surprisingly, Roberts made her false claims against me only in court documents that immunize her from being sued for defamation. When she was interviewed by the Miami Herald, she refused to repeat her false allegations outside of court. The Crimson did not ask her directly to repeat her false allegations to them. As a matter of journalistic ethics, The Crimson should not have published an accusation without interviewing the accuser on the record. I now challenge Roberts to repeat her false accusations to The Crimson or other media, so that I can sue her for defamation and let a jury decide — after seeing all the evidence including the emails and book manuscript — who is telling the truth and who is lying.

I want an investigation or trial to finally prove that Roberts made up the entire story, so that it can finally be put to rest.

Alan M. Dershowitz is a Professor of Law emeritus at Harvard Law School.