The BBC has said its interview with Jeffrey Epstein’s former lawyer, Alan Dershowitz, was “not suitable” following the conviction of British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell.
The corporation said it was investigating after an interview with the high-profile US lawyer, who represented paedophile Epstein, was aired on Wednesday.
Mr Dershowitz has also been accused of sexual crimes by Virginia Giuffre, who also claims she was abused by Epstein, Maxwell and the Duke of York. The 83-year-old and the Duke vehemently deny any wrongdoing and have not been charged with any crime.
The interview on the BBC News Channel, as the news of Maxwell’s conviction for trafficking teenagers broke, introduced him as “constitutional lawyer” but made no reference to his links to those involved in the case.
He used the airtime to denigrate Ms Giuffre’s claims against himself and the Duke.
Statement on interview with Alan Dershowitz pic.twitter.com/MlXkqdJI8u
— BBC News Press Team (@BBCNewsPR) December 30, 2021
In a statement, the BBC said: “Last night’s interview with Alan Dershowitz after the Ghislaine Maxwell verdict did not meet the BBC’s editorial standards, as Mr Dershowitz was not a suitable person to interview as an impartial analyst, and we did not make the relevant background clear to our audience.
Luring young girls
“We will look into how this happened.”
Maxwell, 60, was convicted on five out of six charges, which included luring young girls to massage rooms for the disgraced financier Epstein to molest.
Ms Giuffre’s claims against Maxwell did not form part of the prosecution’s case but were raised during the trial.
Mr Dershowitz said on the BBC: “The most important thing, particularly for British viewers, is that the government was very careful who it used as witnesses.
“It did not use as a witness the woman who accused Prince Andrew, who accused me, who accused many other people, because the government didn’t believe she was telling the truth.
“In fact she, Virginia Giuffre, was mentioned in the trial as somebody who brought young people to Epstein for him to abuse, so this case does nothing to strengthen the case against Prince Andrew, indeed it weakens the case against Prince Andrew considerably because the government was very selective in who it used.
“It used only witnesses who they believed were credible and it deliberately didn’t use the main witness, the woman who started the whole investigation — Virginia Giuffre — because, ultimately, they didn’t believe she was telling the truth and they didn’t believe a jury would believe her and they were right in doing so, so it was very smart on the part of the government.”
Epstein, 66, was found dead in his cell at a Manhattan federal jail in August 2019 while he awaited trial on sex-trafficking charges. The death was ruled to be a suicide.
Mr Dershowitz, who worked with former president Donald Trump and the former film producer and convicted sex offender Harvey Weinstein, is one of the best-known criminal defence lawyers in the US.
Related: People in shock over BBC’s choice of interviewee following Maxwell verdict