Robert De Niro's daughter allegedly sent an intimidating text to his former assistant as she testified in the ongoing gender discrimination trial against him.
Graham Chase Robinson's legal team shared the text she received Sunday after she took the stand Thursday and Friday in court. The message seemingly came from one of De Niro's daughters, according to the screenshot of the text that included the contact suggestion on the iPhone.
The text was read to the courtroom on Monday as day six began in the ongoing civil trial.
"You disgusting little beast," the text, obtained by Fox News Digital, read. "You have nothing better to do with your pathetic life than destroy an 80-year-old man's life for money. You piece of s--t. He lost a grandson only four months ago. Has to deal with a scumbag like you. Sickening. Hopefully you and your family will suffer, like you have made so many suffer."
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Robinson's lawyers claimed they googled the phone number, and it did connect back to De Niro's daughter.
"We think this is very serious, particularly given the timing that Ms. Robinson is on the stand, and certainly, in the context of other inadvertent contacts from other associates of the defense side," Andrew Macurdy told the judge, according to court transcript obtained by Fox News Digital. "So we would ask for an instruction to Mr. De Niro and to Canal that no one from his family and no associates would be contacting Ms. Robinson whatsoever."
De Niro's lawyer told the judge he knew "nothing" about the text message and Monday was the "first time" he had heard about it.
"So I have no idea where that comes from," Richard C. Schoenstein said. "But certainly we would instruct our clients not to contact the plaintiff and if your Honor wants to do that, that's fine with us."
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A representative for De Niro did not have a statement to share with Fox News Digital.
The judge instructed De Niro and Canal Productions not to contact Robinson during the proceedings.
"And if anybody on either side, frankly, brings to my attention items like you've brought to my attention, I'll make sure that we look into them," Judge Lewis J. Liman said.
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The text message likely won't lead to any criminal culpability, according to legal expert and attorney Linda Kenney Baden.
"The judge kind of indicates that he just wants to put an end to any contact," Baden told Fox News Digital. "He's saying it's serious, but...he's not making a referral to any jurisdiction, any prosecutor, any D.A., any U.S. attorney."
Baden also explained that civil trials often get emotional: "People take everything so personally in civil trials that they do get filled with emotions."
Her advice to the parties involved is to wait until the civil trial is over to make statements: "Tell your family to stop. Nothing during the trial. Nothing. Zippo. Zilch."
The text message also won't make it in front of the jury's eyes, Ethan Krasnoo, Partner at Reavis Page Jump LLP, told Fox News Digital.
"The text message statements made by De Niro’s [daughter] to Robinson do not aid De Niro in the 'court of public opinion.' Even if the statements do not rise to the level of defamation, they are derogatory and attacking of the plaintiff in the ongoing gender discrimination case," Krasnoo explained. "While De Niro’s [daughter] is not a party to the litigation, her comments may be attributed to him and it may be presumed that he had some agency or control over what actions his [daughter] has taken in sending the text."
"However, that being said, the text message is not likely to be entered into evidence in the actual trial. Thus, the jury is not likely to gain access to the text," he added. "In order for the jury to learn of it, the text message would have to be deemed relevant to the underlying facts and allegations in the case."
The text will do "more damage" to the "public’s perception" of De Niro than anything else, according to the legal expert.
"Doesn’t look good for DeNiro but that only matters if the jury gets to see it," Devin McRae, litigator and name partner at Early Sullivan Wright Gizer & McRae, told Fox News Digital. "It doesn’t rise to witness intimidation and isn’t really probative of the gender discrimination claims, so it will probably not make its way into evidence. The plaintiff’s lawyers will argue that it corroborates her testimony of an abusive environment."
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Robinson, who worked for De Niro from 2008 until 2019, and the "Flowers of the Killer Moon" actor are in court over the assistant's lawsuit accusing De Niro of gender discrimination. Robinson has alleged the actor repeatedly used "vulgar, inappropriate, and gendered comments" in addition to overworking and underpaying her in her $12 million lawsuit.
Before she filed her 2019 lawsuit, De Niro filed his own. The $6 million suit accused Robinson of improper use of the company credit card, watching TV on company time and stealing frequent-flier miles for personal trips.
In 2022, Robinson came forward to accuse De Niro of retaliation with his 2019 lawsuit. The former assistant alleged she uncovered text messages between De Niro's employees that proved the actor's lawsuit was filed to "humiliate" her, according to court documents previously obtained by Fox News Digital. In one text exchange, a longtime employee of De Niro reportedly said that Robinson "was threatening to sue bob so they wanted to ruin her first."
The employee also said the figure De Niro sued Robinson for was "just a random number... [t]o humiliate her."
"It's not actually like they plan to go to court," the employee reportedly added in the text exchange.
