Alan Dershowitz's Guilty Conscience

In 2019, Virginia Giuffre sued Alan Dershowitz, ambulance-chasing lawyer to the stars, in a suit where she claimed that not only had Dershowitz defamed her with his constant publicity, declaring that Giuffre had ‘‘deliberately framed [him] for financial reasons,” but also that Dershowitz was a co-conspirator in Jeffrey Epstein’s notorious child sex ring. Dershowitz was not only close friends with Epstein, but also his defense attorney, and made nearly $4 million over the course of Epstein’s legal battles.

“Defendant Dershowitz was Epstein’s attorney, close friend, and co-conspirator. Dershowitz was also a participant in sex trafficking, including as one of the men to whom Epstein lent out Plaintiff for sex.” - Virginia Giuffre v. Alan Dershowitz, April 16, 2019

Dershowitz countersued Giuffre in November, 2019, again, claiming Virginia had lied.

“Dershowitz has made clear that Giuffre has committed perjury, that together with her lawyers she engaged in a scheme to falsely accuse him of sex trafficking as part of a criminal attempt to extort a settlement from another party.” - Virginia Giuffre v. Alan Dershowitz, November 7, 2019

The Washington Post

Three years later Giuffre dropped her case against Dershowitz, and would make a public statement exonerating him.

“I have long believed that I was trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein to Alan Dershowitz,” she said. 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.” - Virginia Giuffre, 2022

Dershowitz, of course, would release his own glowing statement.

“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.” - Alan Dershowitz, 2022

I remember thinking at the time that something felt off. Virginia Giuffre never made statements like this. She never exonerated anyone else, or claimed to have made a mistake in identifying her abusers. But things went quiet for a while, and then, sadly, in 2025 she passed away.

But in October of this year, as the world went silent while we all read Virginia’s book, Nobody’s Girl. And in it she said it again, nearly on the last space. It was as if she was trying to tell us “don’t believe it.”

“On November 8, 2022, I announced a settlement between me and lawyer Alan Dershowitz, the Harvard professor emeritus (and friend of Epstein’s) who I’d sued for defamation in 2019. In a joint statement, I said, ‘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.’” - Virginia Giuffre, Nobody’s Girl

If I all but ignored it the first time, now I couldn’t. I knew she didn’t mean what she was saying, and that Dershowitz had threatened her financially or in some other way. But I couldn’t prove it.

I reached out to one of my sources, someone very close to Virginia and her family, who confirmed to me that Dershowitz had, indeed, sexually abused Virginia on six different occasions.

And here I must say “allegedly” to save my own ass.

The New Yorker

But still, what good is a quiet Substack account and a credible source against one of the most powerful and wealthy litigators in modern history? This is a man who has represented Jeffrey Epstein, Harvey Weinstein, O.J. Simpson, Jim Bakker, and Donald Trump. Quite a lineup. But also a crystal-clear indication of Dershowitz’ moral code.

But still, no proof.

But then came the November 12th info-dump from the House Oversight Committee, and with it hundreds, and hundreds of emails.

Now, most of you know by now that I’m an uber-nerd, and I spend most of my time scanning documents for clues. So that’s just what I did. I began on page 1 (actually 010477), and just started scrolling. And scrolling. And scrolling.

And at 1am on November 13th, I found it. Proof.

In a 2015 email, four years before Virginia Giuffre’s lawsuit against Alan Dershowitz, he had written Giuffre’s lawyer, David Boies. In it, he directed Virginia on what to say, which she would, nearly verbatim, seven years later.

Virginia Giuffre and her lawyer, David Boies - Reuters

“We should be aiming at a short simple statement such as: ‘…Although I believed then and continued to believe that [Alan Dershowitz] was the person with whom I had sex, recent developments raise the possibility that this may be a case of mistaken identification.’” - Alan Dershowitz in an email to David Boies

In 2015, Virginia Giuffre was living in a modest home in Queensland, Australia, and caring for her ailing father-in-law. Alan Dershowitz had three homes, in Manhattan, Miami Beach, and Cambridge, MA, and was worth approximately $25 million. It was no contest, but if it had been, Dershowitz would always win.

Today Alan Dershowitz spends most of his time defending himself on “high-ranking” news networks like NewsNation.

He has skirted around the condemnation of Jeffrey Epstein, and often claims that the survivors are financially motivated, downplaying the sexual abuse of children.

“I think many of [Epstein’s accusers] are now motivated by financial gains…You can’t presume anybody guilty, but I’m not challenging their veracity at this point. I’m only challenging the veracity of people whose veracity I know is untruthful.” - Alan Dershowitz

Alan Dershowitz, his reputation irrevocably besmirched, claims he will continue the road ahead in defending the indefensible. And for that, I hope he always has a platform on Chris Cuomo.

Because Lord knows no one’s watching.

Ellie is an author, editor, and owner of Red Pencil Transcripts, and works with filmmakers, podcasts, and journalists all over the world. She lives with her family just outside of New York City.