Highlights
- Robert De Niro’s former assistant accused him of abuse and presented evidence, including voicemails.
- De Niro’s company sued the assistant for alleged misuse of company funds and breach of duty.
- The court ultimately ruled in favor of the assistant, ordering De Niro’s company to pay her $1.2 million.
Robert De Niro might be one of the most iconic actors in Hollywood, but that doesn’t mean he’s above scandal. Though it took many years for the accusations to finally come to light, one of Robert’s former assistants alleged that he was abusive towards her, even citing voicemails from the actor as evidence.
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The case was complicated, however, and the assistant didn’t seem to call out De Niro until she was facing legal consequences for apparently not doing her job in the first place.
De Niro’s Assistant Was Accused Of Graham Chase Robinson Of Wasting Money
Robert De Niro’s company sued his former assistant, Graham Chase Robinson, in 2019
Fans following Robert De Niro’s career might have heard about his company suing his former assistant. In 2019, Robert De Niro’s Canal Productions sued Chase Robinson for $6 million.
While Robinson’s accusations took more time to come out, seemingly as a retort to being taken to court, De Niro’s team didn’t waste any time laying out what Robinson was accused of.
Canal Productions alleged that Robinson breached her fiduciary duty as well as her duties of loyalty and conversion, all things tied to her apparent misuse of company funds. She was accused of “improper use of airline miles,” as well as ‘theft of time’ for watching Netflix on company time, “bingeing” 55 episodes of Friends on company time.
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Robinson was also accused of, among other things, buying herself a $1,300+ flower arrangement for her birthday and spending $12,000 at a restaurant in Manhattan.
After the lawsuit began, which Robinson’s team called “beyond absurd,” Robinson appeared to tell a different side of the story, bringing up details about how De Niro allegedly treated her during their professional relationship.
Robinson also alleged that Robert’s ‘baby mama,’ Tiffany Chen, was also involved in De Niro’s apparent mistreatment of her.
Robert De Niro’s Ex-Assistant Alleged That He Was Abusive In Her Own Lawsuit
Perhaps in response to the lawsuit, Robinson alleged that De Niro was abusive
When the court case between De Niro and Robinson began, Robinson brought up all the ways that she claimed De Niro was abusive toward her. In her lawsuit, Robinson alleged that De Niro made her do ‘domestic’ tasks that were never required from male employees, including things like scratching his back, doing his laundry, and buttoning his shirt.
Robinson also presented a voicemail from 2012 in which De Niro cussed at and berated his then-assistant when she didn’t answer the phone. She elaborated in court on the “demeaning and inappropriate” contact De Niro allegedly initiated, which the actor retorted was “nonsense.”
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In court, De Niro apparently did not present himself very well, telling his former assistant “shame on you!” at one point. Despite admitting that he did ask Robinson to do things such as scratch his back, De Niro claimed he was “never abusive.”
Ultimately, however, the court decided the opposite. Despite the initial lawsuit coming from De Niro’s camp, it was eventually decided that Robinson had not done anything illegal, and the allegations were “without merit.”
Eventually, the court also determined that De Niro wasn’t necessarily liable for the gender discrimination and retaliation that his former assistant accused him of, but that his company was.
Canal Productions was ordered to pay $1.2 million to Robinson when the case finally concluded in 2023.
Robert De Niro Is No Stranger To Drama With Former Employees
De Niro has had other issues with people he has employed
De Niro’s court case with Chase Robinson wasn’t the only lawsuit he became involved in over his employment practices. De Niro was previously sued by his family’s former nanny for unpaid overtime.
In that case, De Niro eventually had to pay back wages to the nanny, which totaled 750 hours. That case did not appear to involve any alleged abuse by De Niro (at least, not any with a monetary value attached), unlike the case with the actor’s former assistant.
Yet the case proves that working for Robert De Niro may be a gamble, even when the employees are meant to make $300K per year as Robinson did.
Source: NewsFinale
