Left: Rudy Giuliani (zz/NDZ/STAR MAX/IPx 2022 2/2/22). Right: Noelle Dunphy (Inside Edition).
A week after Rudy Giuliani settled a protracted legal dispute with the two Georgia election workers he defamed to the tune of $148 million, the former personal attorney to Donald Trump is once again facing legal peril as a woman claiming to be his former employee alleges she was repeatedly sexually battered by Giuliani.
The former New York City mayor’s accuser, Noelle Dunphy, sued Giuliani and his business in Manhattan Supreme Court on Thursday. She claims that what seemed like a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” role as Giuliani’s director of business development at $1 million per year quickly took a sordid turn after she was hired in January 2019.
“Giuliani began abusing Ms. Dunphy almost immediately after she started working for the Defendants,” the 68-page complaint states. “He made clear that satisfying his sexual demands — which came virtually anytime, anywhere — was an absolute requirement of her employment and of his legal representation. Giuliani began requiring Ms. Dunphy to work at his home and out of hotel rooms, so that she would be at his beck and call. He drank morning, noon, and night, and was frequently intoxicated, and therefore his behavior was always unpredictable.”
“Giuliani also took Viagra constantly,” the complaint continues. “While working with Ms. Dunphy, Giuliani would look to Ms. Dunphy, point to his erect penis, and tell her that he could not do any work until ‘you take care of this.””
Dunphy claims to have copious evidence backing up her account, in the form of text messages and consensually recorded conversations. Her complaint screenshots several of these alleged text exchanges.
“I’m dreaming about you,” Giuliani says in one, according to the complaint. In another, he appears to ask Dunphy, “Can I shower with you?”
Dunphy claims that she has a recording of Giuliani promising to give her $300,000 if she would “forgo her legal rights in connection with her pending case and ‘f— me like crazy.’”
In another recorded chat from Feb. 23, 2019, Giuliani allegedly told Dunphy that he could “get in trouble with underage girls” if they were 16 but looked 20, according to the complaint.
Those are far from the only damaging statements Dunphy claims to have of the former mayor on tape.
“In addition to his sexual demands, Giuliani went on alcohol-drenched rants that included sexist, racist, and antisemitic remarks, which made the work environment unbearable,” her complaint states. “Many of these comments were recorded.”
Dunphy claims that Giuliani first “forced” her to have sex with him in February 2019 after insisting that she spend the night in the guest suite of his Manhattan apartment. Upon arriving at his home, Dunphy was “surprised” to see that Giuliani had poured alcoholic drinks for the two of them, the complaint says.
After a few drinks, Dunphy said she went to the guest room alone to take a shower, but when exiting the bathroom, she was “startled” to see that Giuliani had come into the room “uninvited.”
“Ms. Dunphy was frightened. She said she wanted to get dressed, unpack, and settle in. She asked for privacy. She said she would meet him in the living room when she was ready,” the suit states. “But Giuliani would not leave. He pulled down his pants. Giuliani then pulled her head onto his penis, without asking for or obtaining any form of consent. He held her by her hair. It became clear to Ms. Dunphy that there was no way out of giving him oral sex. She did so, against her will.”
Dunphy’s lawsuit alleges 22 causes of action against Giuliani, including sexual battery claims under New York’s Adult Survivors Act. That’s the law that suspended the statute of limitations on civil claims for sexual assault, which E. Jean Carroll cited to bring successful sexual abuse claims against Trump. A jury awarded Caroll $5 million in May 2023.
While the case is civil, not criminal, in nature, Dunphy is accusing Giuliani of first and third-degree rape, first and third-degree sexual abuse, sexual misconduct, and forcible touching. She is seeking $10 million.
Dunphy had initially filed the suit against Giuliani in May 2023, but a judge in October 2024 ordered certain allegations be struck from the complaint because they were “irrelevant” or “inadmissible.” Such claims included allegedly racist and sexist remarks about well-known female politicians, alleged anti-Semitic comments, alleged attempts to sell pardons from during Trump’s first term, and references to the “Borat” movie in which Giuliani appeared.
