Robert De Niro’s company ordered to pay $1.2m in gender discrimination lawsuit – but star not personally liable
Robert De Niro’s company has been ordered to pay more than $1.2m (£982,000) to his former personal assistant after it was found to have engaged in gender discrimination and retaliation – but a jury found the star was not personally liable for the abuse.
A judge ordered De Niro’s company, Canal Productions, to make two payments of $632,143 to his long-time personal assistant Graham Chase Robinson.
De Niro, 80, who spent three days at the two-week trial, including two in the witness box, has been ensnared in duelling lawsuits with Ms Robinson since she quit in April 2019.
De Niro arrives at court. Pic: AP
Ms Robinson, 41, said De Niro and his girlfriend Tiffany Chen teamed up against her to turn a job she once loved into a nightmare.
De Niro and Ms Chen each said during evidence that Ms Robinson became the problem when her aspirations to move beyond Canal Productions led her to make escalating demands to remain in the job.
In two days in the witness box the actor told jurors he boosted Ms Robinson’s salary from less than $100,000 (£82,000) annually to $300,000 (£245,000) and elevated her title to vice president of production and finance at her request – despite her responsibilities remaining largely the same.
De Niro said when she quit Ms Robinson stole about $85,000 (£70,000) in airline miles from him, betrayed his trust and violated his unwritten rules to use common sense and always do the right thing.
At times De Niro acknowledged from the witness box many of the claims Ms Robinson made to support her $12m (£10m) gender discrimination and retaliation lawsuit.
He agreed he had asked her to scratch his back on at least two occasions, dismissing a question about it with: “Ok, twice? You got me!”
He admitted he had berated her, though he disputed ever aiming a profanity her way, saying: “I was never abusive, ever.”
He also denied ever yelling at her, saying every little thing she was trying to catch him with was nonsense and that, at most, he had raised his voice in her presence but never with disrespect.
Then, he looked at her sitting between her lawyers in the courtroom and shouted: “Shame on you, Chase Robinson!”
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‘Emotional and mental breakdown’
Ms Robinson said she quit her job during an “emotional and mental breakdown” that left her overwhelmed and feeling like she had “hit rock bottom”.
She said she has since suffered from anxiety and depression and has not worked in four years despite applying for 638 jobs.
“I don’t have a social life,” she said. “I’m so humiliated and embarrassed and feel so judged. I feel so damaged in a way. … I lost my life. Lost my career. Lost my financial independence. I lost everything.”
‘A civil rights trial’
De Niro’s lawyers sued Ms Robinson for breach of loyalty and fiduciary duty even before her lawsuit was filed against him in 2019.
They sought $6m (£5m) in damages, including a return of the five million airline miles.
In a closing argument on Wednesday, De Niro’s lawyer Richard Schoenstein said the miles that were taken were worth about $85,000. He said jurors could order Ms Robinson to return some of her salary, but, he added: “We’re not looking for you to punish her.”
In his closing, Ms Robinson’s lawyer Brent Hannafan called the two weeks of court proceedings a civil rights trial and urged jurors to return a verdict “not just for Ms Robinson, but for all civil rights litigants”.
De Niro has won two Oscars and is currently starring in the Martin Scorsese film Killers Of The Flower Moon.
It’s 5.30am, but the car park outside a laundrette in south central Los Angeles is already bustling.
A woman is setting up a stand selling tacos on the pavement and the sun is beginning to rise behind the palm trees.
A group of seven women and two men are gathered in a circle, most wearing khaki green t-shirts.
The leader, a man named Francisco “Chavo” Romero, begins by asking how everyone is feeling. “Angry,” a few of them respond. “Proud of the community for pushing back,” says another.
Ron, a high school history teacher, issues a rallying cry. “This is like Vietnam,” he says. “We’re taking losses, but in the end we’re going to win. It’s a war.”
Francisco ‘Chavo’ Romero leads a volunteer group, attempting to warn people ahead of ICE raids
This is what the resistance against Donald Trump’s immigration policy looks like here. In the past month, immigration and customs enforcement agents – known as ICE – have intensified their raids on homes and workplaces across Los Angeles.
Since the beginning of June, nearly 2,800 undocumented immigrants have been arrested in the city, according to the Department of Homeland Security. The previous monthly high was just over 850 arrests in May this year.
Police use tear gas against protesters, angry at a recent immigration raid at a farm in Camarillo, California. Pic: AP
Videos have circulated online of people being tackled to the ground in the car park of DIY shops, in car washes and outside homes. The videos have prompted outrage, protests and a fightback.
“Chavo” and Ron belong to a group of organised volunteers called Union del Barrio. Every morning, a group of them meet, mostly in areas which have high immigrant populations.
The day I meet them, they’re in an area of LA which is heavily Latino. Armed with walkie talkies to communicate with each other, megaphones to warn the community and leaflets to raise awareness they set out in cars in different directions.
A volunteer from Union del Barrio shows Sky’s Martha Kelner how they try to stay one step ahead of ICE agents
They’re looking for cars used by ICE agents to monitor “targets”.
“That vehicle looks a little suspicious,” says Ron, pointing out a white SUV with blacked-out windows, “but there’s nobody in it”.
An elderly Latino man is standing on a street corner, cutting fruit to sell at his stall. “He’s the exact target that they’re looking for,” Ron says. “That’s what they’re doing now. The low-hanging fruit, the easy victim. And so that is proving to be more successful for their quotas.”
This man, selling fruit on a street corner in LA, is a potential target of immigration agents
In the end, it turns out to be a quiet morning in this part of LA, no brewing immigration operations. But elsewhere in the city, dawn raids are happening.
ICE agents are under pressure from the White House to boost their deportation numbers in line with Donald Trump’s campaign promise to crack down on illegal immigration.
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In June, tear gas and rubber bullets were fired at protestors demonstrating against immigration raids
Maria’s husband Javier was one of those arrested in LA. He came to the United States from Mexico when he was 19 and is now 58.
The couple have three grown-up children and two grandchildren. But Javier’s work permit expired two years ago, according to Maria and so he was living here illegally.
Maria’s husband Javier was arrested after his work permit expired
She shows me a video taken last month when Javier was at work at a car wash in Pomona, an area of LA. He is being handcuffed and arrested by armed and masked ICE agents, forced into a car. He is now being held at a detention centre two hours away.
“I know they’re doing their job,” she says, “but it’s like, ‘you don’t have to do it like that.’ Getting them and, you know, forcing people and pushing them down on the ground. They’re not animals.”
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Maria wipes away tears as she explains the impact of his absence for the past four weeks. “It’s been so hard without him,” she says. “You feel alone when you get used to somebody and he’s not there any more. We’ve never been apart for as long as this.”
The family have a lawyer and is appealing for him to remain in the US, but Maria fears he will be sent back to Mexico or even a third country.
Maria fears her husband, who has lived in the US for nearly 40 years, will be sent back to Mexico
“I don’t know what to say to my grandkids because the oldest one, who is five was very attached to his papas, as he calls him. And he’s asking me, ‘When is papa coming home?’ and I don’t know what to say. He’s not a criminal.”
The fear in immigrant communities can be measured by the empty restaurant booths and streets that are far quieter than usual.
People in LA are being asked to report sightings of ICE officials so others can be warned
I meet Soledad at the Mexican restaurant she owns in Hollywood. When I arrive, she’s watching the local news on the TV as yet another raid unfolds at a nearby farm.
She’s shaking her head as ICE agents face off with protesters and military helicopters hover overhead. “I am scared. I am very scared,” she says.
All of her eight employees are undocumented, and four of them are too scared to come into work, she says, in case they get arrested. The process to get papers, she says, is too long and too expensive.
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Soledad, who owns a Mexican restaurant, plans to hide her illegal workers if immigration officials arrive
“They call me and tell me they are too afraid to come in because immigration is around,” she says.
“I have to work double shifts to be able to make up for their hours, and yes, I am very desperate, and sometimes I cry… We have no sales, and no money to pay their wages.”
There is just one woman eating fajitas at a booth, where there would usually be a lunchtime rush. People are chilled by the raids.
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Soledad says she plans to hide her illegal workers if immigration officials arrive.
“I’ve told them, get inside the fridge, hide behind the stove, climb up where we have a space to store boxes, do not run because they will hunt you down.”
The White House says they’re protecting the country from criminals. ICE agents have been shot at while carrying out operations, their work becoming more dangerous by the day.
The tension here is ratcheting up. Deportation numbers are rising too. But the order from Donald Trump is to arrest even more people living here illegally.
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