Robert De Niro’s company has been ordered to pay his ex-personal assistant more than $1million (Picture: AP)
Robert De Niro has been found personally not liable for gender discrimination – but his company must still pay his former personal assistant over $1.2m in damages.
A civil jury began debating in New York City on Thursday morning over whether the Killers of the Flower Moon star, 80, had abused and discriminated against longtime assistant Graham Chase Robinson, who worked for him for 11 years until she quit in 2019.
They were also deliberating over whether Robinson misused funds from the actor’s company, Canal, and stole office property including millions of frequent-flier miles.
The jury has now ordered Canal Productions, De Niro’s company, to make two payments of $632,142, totalling $1,264,284, to Robinson after finding it engaged in gender discrimination and retaliation, according to Deadline.
De Niro attended court on three days of the two-week trial but was not present when the verdict was read out on Thursday afternoon local time.
Ms Robinson, 41, was seeking $12m in damages for emotional distress and reputational harm that she claims has left her unemployed and unable to recover from the trauma of her job.
Graham Chase Robinson was also (Picture: Getty)
She was being paid $300,000 annually when she quit, frustrated by her interactions with Mr De Niro’s girlfriend, Tiffany Chen, and the effect she believed it was having on the actor.
De Niro had filed his own lawsuit against Robinson in which he claimed that she stole things from him, including five million points that could be used for airline flights.
However, the star acknowledged that he had told her she could take two million miles and that there were no strict rules.
He was seeking the return of three years of her salary.
‘We are delighted that the jury saw what we saw and returned a verdict in Chase Robinson’s favour against Robert De Niro’s company, Canal Productions,’ said David Sanford, an attorney for Graham Chase Robinson.
‘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.’
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Although not personally liable, the Hollywood star’s company must pay out.