Robert De Niro Discrimination Trial Picks Jury; Actor To Testify After Opening Statements
Opening arguments in a workplace civil case pitting actor Robert De Niro against his former executive assistant, Graham Chase Robinson, will begin this afternoon in a federal courtroom in Manhattan, with De Niro himself expected to testify today under direct examination by one of Robinson’s lawyers.
An eight-person jury has been chosen Monday to hear the case, which Judge Lewis J. Liman said will take two weeks. Jurors will have to decide claims contained in dueling lawsuits filed in 2019: whether the Killers of the Flower Moon star subjected Robinson to gender harassment and underpaid her in violation of New York laws, and whether Robinson, who quit the job 2019, misused funds while at De Niro’s company, Canal, and took valuables when she left.
Attorneys for both sides spent part of the morning hashing out objections to elements of each other’s planned opening statements and arguing whether to admit trial exhibits including emails and voice recordings.
The two-time Oscar-winning actor was not in the courtroom for the proceedings before lunch but will be the first witness called to the stand, according to Robinson’s lawyers.
