Robert De Niro appears in court after being accused of abuse of power and sexual harassment

Robert De Niro appeared yesterday, Monday (30), in Federal Court in New York City, to testify against his former personal assistant, Graham Chase Robinson, who accuses him of abuse of power and sexual harassment. The two worked together between 2008 and 2019.

Understand the case

Graham Chase resigned after conflicts with the actor, who according to her, despite having started working with Robert as an executive assistant, became production director and vice president of production and finance. However, according to Graham, she was also responsible for other tasks such as decorating the actor's Christmas tree, buttoning his shirt, being an escort at the hospital and other domestic services, despite her executive position.

According to “Time” magazine, the former assistant testified first, while the actor held back from showing any reaction, but let it slip that he was disgusted by the situation and had said it was nonsense. It is important to inform that the former employee is asking for compensation of US$12 million for alleging damage to her reputation and emotional distress. In addition, she also raises more serious accusations against De Niro, for her, the star created an abusive environment for women and made unwanted physical contact.

Even made it into a television series

The Hollywood star claimed that the former employee watched “Friends” during office hours. It seems like a less serious reason, but among the accusations, the actor also alleged that Robinson was responsible for stealing airline miles from the account of his company, “Canal Production”. However, according to the girl, the actor was only acting in retaliation for her allegations.

^{Robert De Niro sues employee for watching Friends during work hours (Photo: reproduction/Hugogloss)}

According to the former employee, she tried to resign in 2018, but received threats of receiving bad recommendations from Robert. She said that at the time she received the amount of 200 thousand dollars, but she negotiated the salary and started receiving 300 thousand, however, she states that the amount still does not match the functions performed and requires parity.

Featured photo: Robert De Niro appears at the New York Federal Court to testify against his former assistant (Reproduction/Extra)