Archaeologist Luis Jaime Castillo Butters contends the U.S. National Academy of Sciences made defamatory statements about alleged sexual misconduct.
Luis Jaime Castillo Butters, a prominent Peruvian archaeologist who was among the first members of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences to be removed after a 2019 bylaws update allowed expulsion for documented misconduct violations, filed a $5 million defamation lawsuit against the academy and NAS President Marcia McNutt this month. The suit alleges that “NAS and McNutt made false and defamatory statements … concerning alleged sexual harassment by Castillo.
The lawsuit doesn’t specify what statements Castillo Butters views as defamatory—and no statements or press releases are currently visible on the NAS website, . Castillo Butters’s lawyer declined to share documentation to support the allegations. “All of our evidence will be put forward at trial,” he wrote in an email. NAS also declined to confirm or deny whether a press release was in fact issued. “We are aware of the lawsuit and are reviewing it,” a spokesperson wrote in an email. “At this time, we don’t have any additional comment.”