Noted Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz has joined Harvey Weinstein’s legal fight over emails that the disgraced movie mogul’s accusers fear he may release to the public.
Dershowitz filed papers seeking to join Weinstein’s legal team in an ongoing case in Manhattan Federal Court brought by women, including actress Louisette Geiss. She and nine others allege Weinstein ran a racketeering operation in which he sexually abused women he met through the film business.
The suit seeks class-action status, and attorneys for Geiss have said they are concerned Weinstein plans to release emails with them to the public in an effort to show he did not commit sexual assault.
“I agreed to consult on the constitutional issues involving the emails. Let the whole truth come out and let the public judge,” Dershowitz said.
“There are exculpatory emails. They’re emails from people who have accused him strongly suggesting the accusations are false.”
Dershowitz said the legal battle over the emails was “in a state of flux,” so he could not describe the messages’ content.
Judge Alvin Hellerstein, who is presiding over the Geiss case, has previously indicated he’s reluctant to order the emails be kept secret.
“If this is a media fight, I can’t interfere with that,” Hellerstein said in a hearing last month.
Elizabeth Fegan, a lawyer for Weinstein accusers, said in a statement the emails’ release won’t change the basic facts of the case.
“A husband can rape a wife. And a woman whose career is on the line can e-mail her perpetrator,” Fegan wrote.
“Weinstein’s defense is old, tired and will not withstand the long line of women who will testify as to the way in which Weinstein manipulated women who had to deal with him even after he assaulted them because he held the keys to Hollywood.”
Dershowitz is no stranger to controversial clients. He also represented multimillionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
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