Central Park 5 Prosecutor “Will Not Receive Any Money” As Netflix & Linda Fairstein End ‘When They See Us’ Defamation Dispute Just Before Trial

Just days before Netflix and the former prosecutor of the unjustly imprisoned Central Park 5 were set to go to trial in New York over Ava DuVernay’s Emmy winning When They See Us,  the whole four- year long legal battle is over.

“The parties announce that they have resolved this lawsuit,” said the streamer and ex-Assistant District Attorney Linda Fairstein in a joint statement today as documents are being filed right now in court to end the matter. “Netflix will donate $1 million to the Innocence Project. Ms. Fairstein will not receive any money as part of this settlement.”

The trial was scheduled to start on June 10

Along with no compensation, Fairstein leaves the matter without the usual confidentially agreement and without any admission of fault on the defendants’ part, I hear. In a move that borders on ironic were it not so consequential, Netflix’s seven-figure donation to the 1992 founded Innocence Project puts resources at the disposal of the very people that the likes of Fairstein sought to imprison. 

First suing Netflix and DuVernay for defamation in March 2020, Fairstein’s case came a fairly quick conclusion in the past few weeks. Representatives for the DA offices ex-sex crimes unit chief, who was portrayed by Felicity Huffman in the four-part 2019 miniseries, reached out to the streamer seeking a significant payout, which Netflix refused, I hear. Confidentiality terms were put on the table, but also soon cast aside too. In the end, Fairstein essentially walked away with nothing except avoid her day in court.