A civil jury in New York Metropolis is about to start deliberating right this moment whether or not Robert De Niro abused and discriminated in opposition to his longtime private assistant, Graham Chase Robinson, and whether or not Robinson misused funds from the actor’s firm, Canal, and stole workplace property together with hundreds of thousands of frequent-flier miles earlier than she give up in 2019 after 11 years on De Niro’s payroll.
Jurors spent eight days in a federal courtroom listening to dueling claims from De Niro, Robinson, their attorneys and a slew of witnesses concerning who was accountable for the fallout on the small workplace in Manhattan that runs the double Oscar winner’s private and enterprise affairs and is separate from his movie manufacturing and movie pageant operations.
The trial, combing De Niro’s preliminary swimsuit and Robinson’s countersuit, has opened a window on the privileged lifetime of the celebrated actor, Tribeca Movie Competition founder and proprietor of the Nobu restaurant and resort chain.
On the witness stand final week, De Niro — who can be within the courtroom once more right this moment — denied bullying or harassing Robinson or paying her lower than his longtime private coach as a result of Robinson was a single lady.
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At one level, he erupted in court docket, crying, “Disgrace on you, Chase Robinson!” after telling one in all Robinson’s attorneys, Andrew Macurdy, “There was by no means any lewdness or disrespect or weirdness that you simply’re making an attempt to indicate.”
Robinson’s duties ranged from negotiating the actor’s movie-shoot “perk packages” to getting him to the hospital for a again damage. Robinson herself testified that De Niro required her to be reachable by cellphone in any respect hours — weekends, holidays and day off included — for duties that ranged from negotiating his movie-shoot “perk packages” to getting him to the hospital for a again damage.
“It didn’t matter in the event you had been in New York and the household was in Doha. It didn’t matter if, , you had been in New York they usually had been in Australia,” she stated on the stand, “You picked it up whatever the time after which helped them with no matter they wanted.”
She additionally stated that De Niro would yell at her and name her a “bitch” to her face, and that he generally requested her to scratch his again — a activity she discovered “creepy” and “simply disgusting.”
Robinson testified that she had no romantic curiosity in De Niro, regardless of De Niro’s girlfriend, martial arts teacher Tiffany Chen, as soon as emailing the actor to complain of Robinson’s “persistent method and demented, imaginary intimacy with you.”
In court docket, Chen defended as soon as evaluating Robinson to the stalker performed by Jennifer Jason Leigh within the 1992 film, Single White Feminine.
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“I don’t know if she grew to become psychotic, however I believe that she’s at all times had psychological well being points,” Chen testified.
Robinson’s attorneys have stated that their shopper’s psychological devastation — and her lack of ability to work ever since — stemmed from working for De Niro and a hostile Chen, after which being sued and denied a settlement by the actor after she give up.
They’re asking the jury to award Robinson unspecified financial damages for “emotional misery and reputational hurt.”
Richard Schoenstein, a lawyer for De Niro, dismissed these claims in his closing assertion to jurors Wednesday.
“She’s not unhappy about again scratches or the b-word,” Schoenstein stated. “She’s unhappy as a result of she left Canal and she or he didn’t get what she wished. And she or he could also be unhappy as a result of the matter plunged into litigation, however you may’t give her damages for that.”
Earlier than Robinson give up, she was making $300,000 a 12 months as De Niro’s director of manufacturing and finance at Canal — a lofty title De Niro stated he gave her “as a result of she wished it” — and dealing remotely from Los Angeles, London and Spain, together with her holidays paid for by the corporate.
De Niro is searching for to claw again the ultimate years of Robinson’s wage, alleging that she walked out with objects of firm property, transferred hundreds of thousands of Canal’s frequent-flier miles to a private account and habitually used workplace funds for rideshares on private errands.
Robinson’s attorneys stated that De Niro explicitly gave Robinson huge discretion on spending and bills as a part of her compensation bundle and that his accountants by no means raised any purple flags. It was solely after Robinson give up and demanded a settlement, they stated, that Chen and a Canal lawyer started on the lookout for issues.
“Defendants declare she is making an attempt to rob them blind and steal all this cash,” a lawyer for Robinson, Brent Hannafan, stated in closing arguments Wednesday. “That is somebody who, when she found out she had mistakenly charged one thing to her private AmEx card, wrote them a test and despatched them a be aware. That’s how conscientious she was, that’s how loyal she was.”
