Judge in Allred case unseals Romney testimony but won't lift gag order

A Boston judge has ruled to unseal testimony by Republican presidential candidate former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA) in a case that has been taken up by high-profile celebrity attorney Gloria Allred.  According to the Boston Globe, the court will be making the Romney testimony transcripts available Thursday afternoon, transcripts that Allred claims will show that Romney lied under oath.

Romney's testimony, which the Globe filed to have unsealed on Oct. 15, reportedly pertains to the value of Staples stock at the time of the Stemberg divorce.  The Globe reported that "The suit was filed in 1990 by (Staples founder Tom) Stemberg’s ex-wife, Maureen Sullivan Stemberg, who sought to amend the couple’s financial agreement after Staples went public in 1989 and began trading at 10 times the stock value she had received in the divorce a year earlier. Romney, now the Republican nominee for president, testified during the lawsuit in June 1991."

The presidential nominee, Allred alleges, presented the court with an undervalued assessment of Staples and its financial potential in order to secure a lower financial settlement in the divorce for his friend.  Records of the original testimony were destroyed by the court, but Sullivan Stemberg retained copies for her own records.  A redacted version of these records will be made available by the Globe later today.

Sullivan Stemberg, who is Allred's client, is currently bound by a confidentiality agreement regarding the case, a gag order that Allred called, "the most comprehensive gag order I have ever seen in my 36 years of practicing law.”

Allred argued passionately this morning that the gag order on her client should be lifted, but the judge declined to hear the request, according to the website TMZ, on the grounds that Allred had not filed a written motion.

[image of Gloria Allred via Joe Seer / Shutterstock.com]