Former assistant in De Niro trial recounts workplace disputes

• Graham Chase Robinson continues to take the witness stand in his $12 million gender discrimination suit against Robert De Niro.
• He and a co-worker can be heard comparing notes he took on De Niro’s current and former partners in the undercover audio.
• His testimony is expected to continue on Tuesday.

It seems there wasn’t a woman in Robert De Niro’s orbit that his former executive assistant didn’t get rid of.

Graham Chase Robinson took the stand Monday in Manhattan federal court to testify against his ex-wife in her $12 million gender discrimination and retaliation lawsuit against the two-time Oscar-winning actor and his company, Canal Productions. Grace details her quarrels with Hightower. His current girlfriend, Tiffany Chanand his business partner, Gene Rosenthal, CEO of Tribeca Enterprises.

Robinson, who worked for De Niro from 2008 to 2019, claims that De Niro verbally abused her, relegated her to “stereotypical duties such as housework” and paid her less than male employees because she was a single career woman with no family to support. De Niro has denied the allegations, calling them “all nonsense”.

De Niro filed a countersuit against the former executive assistant, claiming she stole five million frequent flyer miles from him and used his company’s American Express Gold Card on unauthorized taxi fares, expensive restaurants and gourmet groceries. Collected thousands of dollars. The “Cape Fear” actor also said she spends her days binge-watching Netflix while she claims she’s overworked. In court documents, Robinson denied these allegations.The New York Times reported.

The jury in this case will decide both suits at the same time, and jurors have already heard one. Airing dirty laundry In the case of.

In secret audio recordings played by Robinson in court, he and a co-worker can be heard comparing notes on De Niro’s current and former love interests.

“Who do you think is worse, Grace or Tiffany?” Robinson asks the actor’s accountant, Michael Tasch.

“Tiffany,” he replies. “She’s a total psychopath. I figured her out in about two minutes. She mistook her for Mrs. De Niro from the start. Every time she gets off the phone with him, she’s mad at him.”

The ex-wife does not fare much better in the employee rating.

In the recording, Robinson called Hightower “fucking nuts” and “the devil you knew” who would “threaten” him and stare at him.

Robinson had already testified last Friday that she immediately clashed with Chen, an actor and martial arts expert who moved in with De Niro in the fall of 2018.

Robinson said she believed Chen was jealous of her relationship with the “Raging Bull” actor and wanted to cut him out of the couple’s lives.

After Chen complained that she was getting sick from a mold problem in the actor’s Upper East Side townhouse, De Niro’s lawyers aim to show that Robinson dragged his heels on downplaying the health issue. Instead of fulfilling his duty to his employer’s girlfriend, he can be heard in a recording played in court calling Chen a “sociopath” who suffers from Munchausen syndrome – a psychological condition in which the victim Creates disease.

De Niro’s business partner, Tribeca boss Rosenthal, was also a target of Robinson’s ire.

The ambitious assistant hoped to leverage her career in film development and production as the actor’s highly paid gofer, but she believed Rosenthal was holding her back.

De Niro’s attorneys showed the jury a list enumerating all the slights she had suffered from Rosenthal.

His gripe is related to not being recognized in Tribeca productions in which he helped make ambiguous statements, such as “vengeance against me” and “picks on me.”

Robinson testified Friday that he heard De Niro refer to Rosenthal as a “bitch” and a “cunt.”

The executive assistant, who received lavish perks like free airfare, a $15,000 Christmas bonus, and a Rolex watch — compliments of De Niro — for his birthday, must also defend himself against the “Taxi Driver” actor’s countersuit. in which it was claimed that he had stolen from her. He breached his fiduciary duty to his company.

De Niro’s lawyers on Monday sought to show that Robinson used his company’s benefits for his own personal gain, including traveling to London at the actor’s expense to hire a producer there to make his film. Can present the project.

His testimony is expected to continue on Tuesday.