Judge feuds with Fordham professor over Epstein-accuser hearing

The federal judge who oversaw Jeffrey Epstein’s dead criminal case is feuding with a Fordham School of Law professor over his decision to let Epstein’s accusers speak in court after his death.

Fordham Professor Bruce Green for co-authored an editorial for Law.com called “The Judge in Epstein’s Case Should Not Turn the Dismissal Into a Drama for the Victims” on the same day the judge held a hearing allowing Epstein accusers to share their stories.

Judge Richard Berman opened the hearing by criticizing the article for failing to disclose alongside the piece that he’d served as “counsel in one of the Epstein-related cases,” referring to Virginia Roberts Giuffre’s lawsuit against former Epstein lawyer Alan Dershowitz.

In a letter of his own filed Wednesday, Green wrote he’d never been an attorney for Dershowitz, just an “expert” trying to disqualify David Boies’ top-tier law firm from representing Giuffre.

But that just provoked the judge.

“Your opinion piece may have been construed as an effort to chill Ms. Giuffre’s and Mr. Boies’ right to be heard,” wrote Berman, referencing Epstein’s self-proclaimed sex slave and her attorney Boies.

“I remain surprised that your advocacy of Mr. Boies’ disqualification from representing Ms. Guiffre (in a case obviously related to US v. Epstein) was not disclosed simultaneously with your August 26, 2019, Law Journal opinion piece,” Berman wrote. “I am also surprised that you would find the August 27, 2019, public hearing to be an inappropriate occasion for transparency in light of Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 57 and the Crime Victims’ Rights Act.”

A Florida judge recently found that prosecutors violated the law when they failed to inform Epstein’s victims ahead of a sweetheart 2008 plea deal that put him behind bars for just 13 months.

Epstein died by suicide on Aug. 10.

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