By Shayna Jacobs
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
Call it the Tiger defense.
The CBS producer accused of blackmailing David Letterman has invoked disgraced golf star Tiger Woods' handling of recent adultery revelations in his criminal defense.
In new court papers filed in Manhattan Supreme Court Tuesday, the lawyer for CBS producer Robert Halderman cites reports that Woods paid hush money to some of the women he allegedly slept with, arguing that his client did nothing worse.
Attorney Gerald Shargel said Halderman's offer to sell Letterman a screenplay — believed to be based on the married host's sexual relationships with CBS employees — was a business deal akin to what Woods' representatives offered to those who had valuable information about the golf icon.
Prosecutors have labeled the "screenplay" a blackmail threat.
Shargel explicitly calls out the payment Los Angeles-based lawyer Gloria Allred is believed to have negotiated on behalf of her client Rachel Uchitel in exchange for canceling a press conference that she had planned after details about her alleged affair with the golf star first surfaced.
The defense also cites millions of dollars that Woods reportedly paid his wife Elin Nordegren after the alleged affairs became public.
"Uchitel, Allred and Nordegren are not being prosecuted because they acted in accordance with a set of basic commercial realities," Shargel wrote in the papers. "Their behavior was capitalist, not criminal."
"According to news reports, Woods agreed to pay [his wife] at least $5 million to, among other things, 'sign a nondisclosure form that will prevent her from ever telling her story.'"
"Halderman (like Rachel Uchitel or Elin Nordegren) had a story to sell based on his own personal experiences.
The ex-CBS producer's attorney continues to argue that criminal charges against Halderman were unwarranted as he pursues a dismissal of the indictment.
Prosecutors have charged Halderman with extorting the "Late Show" and threatening to reveal Letterman's dalliances with CBS staffers if he didn't pay up.
Shargel's latest claims did not stop with the Woods fiasco. There is a "historical" foundation for placing a value on information about high profile people, he also argues in the papers filed.
"Before the release of the Orson Welles' film 'Citizen Kane,' William Randolph Hearst (the 'media mogul' on whom the movie was based), feared that it would harm his reputation," Shargel wrote.
"In response, his representatives called a meeting and offered the movie studio $842,000 'to scrap the movie and destroy the negatives.'"
Halderman's next scheduled court appearance is Jan. 19, when a judge is expected to rule on the motion to dismiss the case and other requests.
