Oh No! Tiger Woods and David Letterman Scandals Collide!
7:08 pm, December 29th, 2009
EXCLUSIVE!
(GettyImages.com)
(GettyImages.com)
Celebrity scandals are colliding, making for some unexpected — and very tense — confrontations.
Gloria Allred, lawyer for alleged Tiger Woods mistress Rachel Uchitel, is angry after Gerald Shargel, lawyer for alleged David Letterman extortionist Robert Halderman, filed legal papers asking that the charges against Halderman be dismissed and at one point comparing Uchitel’s tactics with his own client’s.
Referring to Uchitel (with Allred) reportedly signing a hefty settlement in return for her silence on the Woods matter, Shargel noted in his motion, “Their behavior was capitalist, not criminal.” Shargel maintains that Halderman pursued a similar strategy, offering to sell to Letterman “his very marketable story” of the talk show host’s indiscretions and his silence about the deal.
The so-called “Tiger Woods defense” earned Allred’s scorn, with Uchitel’s lawyer sending Gossip Cop the statement:
“I have never spoken to or had any communication with Mr. Shargel regarding his client or mine, nor does he have any permission to use my name or my client’s. I have no personal knowledge of his client’s case and he has no personal knowledge and therefore, no basis for his remarks about my representation of Ms. Uchitel… Mr. Shargel should spend his time representing his client based solely on the facts of his case, rather than comparing it to other matters of which he has no personal knowledge.”
Gossip Cop asked Shargel to explain his position.
“My point from the beginning is that [people] buy and sell confidentiality all the time,” Shargel told Gossip Cop exclusively. “This is just an illustration of what is commonplace.”
He said that he referred to the Woods case in the filing because it was a “prominent story,” and served as a “useful analogy of the way the world works.” He added that he thought it “apt” to include it, and that once one gets past his Woods reference, it’s clear that he addresses the prosecutor’s argument on the merits of the case.
As for Gloria Allred’s objections, Shargel quipped, “She can rule on my motion.”
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