Thomas Giuffra

I've got a, I've got a lot here, and I wanna go through it and talk to you about it before I find out from you how you plead in terms of being the leak.

But in the letter he wrote to the judge opposing it, Giuffre says, because he's been in the media a lot since this case was filed, he says, "My response to media inquiries has been reactive, reacting to leaks and developments in areas other than the civil lawsuit in which I am acting as an attorney." He goes on to kind of double down and he says, "All my media responses have been reactive to questions posed about the criminal investigation and in response to evidentiary leaks perpetrated by the defendants." So what he is saying is, "Judge, yeah, I've been on various shows, but it's all been reactive to defense leaks, and I don't want a gag order because it's not fair to us if we can't respond to the attacks on Jane Doe."

First of all, uh, there is both a civil case, which he's talking about, which is in New York, the state court.

There is also a criminal investigation.

Um, but then he says that these are leaks, which I'm not sure how you square that.

But he does say in his letter that, um, "Throughout this period, TMZ has reported and regurgitated the texts to undermine Ms. Doe's story.

This has been a continuous process and has been a regular part of their reporting, paired with regular interviews with attorney Mark Geragos." And they go on to say, "Mark Geragos' entry into the media fray, um, with the goal of undermining a survivor's claim is one that I have seen before." He gets into you and him both on the Cuomo show during, uh, uh, during Diddy's trial, um, and then mentions that your daughter, Tennie Geragos, represented Diddy and now represents one of the defendants in the Cornell case.

So he says that your repeated appearances on TMZ continually attacking Ms. Doe's credibility in the media says that the leaks of the prior confidential proceedings in this case have emanated through TMZ in which Geragos has had close ties.

You're listening to News Hour from the BBC World Service.

[news music] Coming up on the program, we'll hear from the lawyer for one of the seven Cornell University students accused by a classmate of sexually assaulting her at a party.

His client is now back at Cornell after serving a suspension.

He was not found responsible for a non-consensual sexual encounter.

He was found responsible in that he, according to the hearing panel, should have known that she was incapacitated, not that he actually did know.

Uh, that report...

Uh, sorry, I should say that interview, uh, with the lawyer for, uh, one of those accused from Cornell University coming up, uh, in 30 minutes.

Our main headline this hour, as we've been hearing, dozens of masked Israeli settlers have attacked Palestinian farmers trying to harvest their oli- olives in the occupied West Bank.

I'm James Menendez.

And coming up later in the program, we'll be hearing from the lawyer for one of seven students at, at Cornell University in the US who's been accused of, uh, sexual assault.

That interview coming up, uh, in half an hour.

But first, if the war in Ukraine has been intensifying in recent days and weeks with Russia stepping up its attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure and Ukraine now resuming its strikes on Russian oil refineries, so too has the wider conflict between Russia and Ukraine's allies.

That was last month.

And since then, New York State has also appointed a special prosecutor, Letitia James, to oversee a new investigation into the allegations.

Well, last week, News Hour spoke to Jane Doe's lawyer, Thomas Giuffra.

During that interview, he told us how she, uh, and, uh, uh, he had become the subjects of death threats as a result of all the publicity surrounding the case.

The case has set off a wave of outrage and has rocked campuses across North America.

Thomas Giuffra is the lawyer representing Jane Doe in her civil lawsuit.

He is a civil trial attorney and partner at Rheingold Giuffra Ruffo Plotkin & Hellman in New York.

Tom Giuffra joins us now.

In an explosive civil suit, Jane Doe, a former student there, charged she was gang-raped at the Chi Phi fraternity two years ago.

Thomas Giuffra is her attorney.

She was incapable of consent.

She was completely grossly intoxicated.