A judge ordered actor Robert De Niro’s company, Canal Productions, to pay his former assistant $1.2 million after finding his corporation liable for gender discrimination and retaliation, a source with direct knowledge confirmed to the Daily Caller.
The New York jury determined De Niro was not personally liable, but did hold his company accountable in court on Thursday. His former assistant, Graham Robinson, was completely exonerated and found not guilty of any of the claims made against her, according to a source with direct knowledge who spoke to the Daily Caller. The two parties have been entangled in legal matters since Robinson quit in April 2019.
Robert De Niro’s production company ordered to pay ex-assistant $1.2M after sensational NYC court battle https://t.co/3vjEOgm286 pic.twitter.com/VgBl3Z0brw
— New York Post (@nypost) November 9, 2023
The judge ordered Canal Productions to issue two payments to Robinson, each in the amount of $632,142, the source confirmed.
De Niro attended three days of the two-week trial, two of which were spent on the witness stand. He was not in attendance in the courtroom when the verdict was read aloud on Thursday.
Robinson testified that De Niro and his girlfriend, Tiffany Chen, ganged up against her and turned her job into a “nightmare,” citing that she was asked to perform tasks outside of her duties and was berated and degraded by De Niro.
De Niro’s attorney, Richard Schoenstein, said he will seek the reduction of the fee awarded to Robinson by filing post-trial motions. Robinson’s law firm, Sanford Heisler Sharp, issued a statement on behalf of chairman David Sanford shortly after the verdict was read. (RELATED: ‘A Hot Mess’: Robert De Niro’s Girlfriend Goes After ‘Mean-Spirited’ Ex-Assistant During Trial)
“We are delighted that the jury saw what we saw and returned a verdict in Chase Robinson’s favor against Robert De Niro’s company, Canal Productions,” they said, a source told the Daily Caller.
“Not only did Ms. Robinson win her case against Canal but the jury completely vindicated Ms. Robinson by finding De Niro’s claims against her to be without merit,” he said.