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A former employee of Rudy Giuliani has requested that the judge in her sexual assault case against the man once known as “America’s Mayor” to restart as soon as possible, now that his bankruptcy case has been dismissed.
Cash-strapped Giuliani had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December after he was ordered to pay a colossal $148m verdict to two election workers he had defamed. Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane dismissed the former New York City mayor’s bankruptcy case on Friday, July 12 after lawyers for Giuliani and a lawyer for the election workers agreed that dismissal was the best path forward.
Days later, on Monday, lawyers for Noelle Dunphy, who brought her bombshell case against Giuliani in 2023, wrote a letter to the New York Supreme court judge saying: “We respectfully request that the Court place this matter back on the active calendar, and schedule oral argument on the parties’ outstanding motions.”
“Given the significant delay occasioned by Mr Giuliani’s bankruptcy, we request that the argument take place at the Court’s earliest convenient date,” her lawyer wrote.
Dunphy’s claims against her Giuliani are nothing short of explosive.
She asked for $10m, accusing Giuliani of sexual assault, harassment, wage theft and other misconduct over claims that he forced her to perform sex acts on him and work in the nude during her two-year employment.
Dunphy frequently recorded the former mayor, with his consent, for a book that she had hoped to write about Giuliani and Donald Trump. But these recordings have turned into evidence for the sexual assault case against the ex-US attorney.
According to transcripts, Giuliani allegedly says in one recording: “Come here, big t*ts. Your t*ts belong to me. Give them to me. I want to claim my t*ts.”
“These breasts belong to me. Nobody else can get near these, okay? I don’t care if they’re flirting or they give you business cards. These are mine, you got it?” he allegedly continued.
Dunphy also claimed that he forced her to engage in oral sex while he was on speakerphone with Donald Trump.
The former mayor has denied the allegations.
Dunphy and Giuliani had a consensual relationship and she never worked for him, his attorneys argued in a contemporaneous filing.
Her complaint comprises a “large stretch of her imagination, replete with outright misrepresentations, intentional exaggeration and salacious details meant to create a media frenzy, given Mr Giuliani’s celebrity status,” his attorneys added.
The suit has the “singular objective to defame Mr Giuliani, using frivolous, inflammatory, and unnecessary allegations.”
In the bankruptcy case, Dunphy was a member of the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors.
The committee’s lawyers had objected to dismissal, and instead advocated for a Chapter 11 trustee to be appointed in the case, forcing the former mayor to relinquish control of his finances. Appointing a trustee would be the “most equitable outcome” for all creditors, the lawyer said, seeing as most of them had not yet resolved their litigation against him.
The bankruptcy case dismissal came after a lawyer for the election workers told the court at a July 10 hearing she was concerned Giuliani would get a “hall pass” if the case was not dismissed, citing his pattern of filing late and inaccurate financial reports.
She also added that bankruptcy court is not the place for certain litigation, pointing to the suit brought by Dunphy. Her claims “are explicit and painful to read.” The lawyer added: “It is in the interest of creditors who are victims of this man” to hear their claims in the venues “of their choosing.”
Giuliani’s team agreed to the dismissal — but on different grounds. Gary Fischoff, the former mayor’s lawyer, agreed that a dismissal gave his client “the best chance of getting an appellate determination” in the $148m defamation judgment.
Fischoff also said that a dismissal means creditors would be “free to pursue” their litigation outside of bankruptcy court, which Dunphy appears to already be doing.
The Independent has emailed representatives for Dunphy and Giuliani for further comment.
