Robert De Niro’s production company, Canal Productions, was found liable for gender discrimination and retaliation and ordered to pay his former assistant $1.2 million in damages Thursday — bringing to a close a sensational legal battle in which the actor was accused of being an abusive boss who subjected his underling to sexually inappropriate behavior
Jurors in Manhattan federal court came to a decision following about five hours of deliberations Thursday and a two-week trial that saw the 80-year-old Oscar winner give bombshell testimony as he tried to bat back Graham Chase Robinson’s claims that he was a boss from hell.
“This is all nonsense!” the curmudgeonly star snapped on the stand on Oct. 30.
De Niro himself was not found liable, but Canal was.
The now-long-running legal spat kicked off when Canal sued Robinson, 41, in August 2019, accusing the once-trusted employee of stealing millions of frequent flier miles, spending thousands on Ubers and dinners out and being a lay-about who binge-watched “Friends” while she was supposed to be working.
Robinson, who worked for De Niro for 11 years, fired back with her own $12 million suit, alleging De Niro never gave her a moment off, relegated her to stereotypically female tasks like cleaning his sheets, underpaid her because she was a woman and subjected her to sexually abusive behavior like scratching his back or talking to her on the phone while he urinated.
“I am the VP of Production and Finance and I am ordering vacuum cleaners,” Robinson scoffed during her own testimony at trial Nov. 7.
Robinson also claimed she was bullied incessantly by De Niro’s girlfriend, Tiffany Chen, who she called a “sociopath” who conspired to have her fired and smear her reputation.
De Niro did admit that he called Robinson a “f–king spoiled brat” once when she failed to wake up him for an important appointment, but insisted he was never abusive.
He also admitted to asking her to scratch her back a time or two, but angrily called it “nonsense” that there was anything sexual about it.
“OK, twice? You got me! I’m saying this is nonsense,” he fumed during his testimony. “It was never done with any disrespect.”
De Niro was particularly incensed over the frequent flier miles he said Robinson stole — which amounted to about $60,000 worth.
He testified she had been granted the use of his miles, but that he expected her to follow an “honor system” and take amounts within reason.
Instead, De Niro’s attorney said she pilfered his miles and transferred millions into her name when she sensed her job was in jeopardy.
“She never moved a million miles at once. And then all of a sudden in early 2019, with all of this stuff going on… all of a sudden she sweeps 5 million miles into her account,” attorney Richard Schoenstein told jurors during his closing remarks Nov. 8.
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Carol Dennis is an entertainment aficionado with an eye for all things pop culture. She dives into the glitz and glamour of the entertainment industry, from movie premieres to music festivals. Carol’s passion for storytelling extends beyond her reporting, as she’s an aspiring screenwriter in her free time.
