Rudy Giuliani responded to a graphic series of sexual assault allegations by smearing his accuser, noting an ex had called her an “escort” after a previous sexual assault suit.
Noelle Dunphy, who worked for Giuliani from 2019 to 2021, filed a $10 million lawsuit Monday against the former New York mayor, alleging he repeatedly forced her to have sex with him.
In a statement, Giuliani’s team denied the accusations and attacked Dunphy.
“Mayor Rudy Giuliani unequivocally denies the allegations raised by Ms. Dunphy and every news outlet covering this story must include the fact that an ex-partner accused her of being, ‘an escort that fleeces wealthy men,’” Giuliani attorney Ted Goodman said in a statement to Rolling Stone.
Giuliani’s lawyer is referencing a previous domestic abuse case Dunphy was involved in. In 2015, she accused a partner of raping her and violently abusing her in a lawsuit. That lawsuit ended with a judge ordering Dunphy’s partner to pay her $10,000.
The attacks on the accuser come amid a shocking lawsuit that accuses Giuliani of sexual battery, assault, and harassment and paints a picture of “America’s Mayor” and 2008 presidential candidate as a dissolute, drunken sex pest.
Dunphy said she worked under constant threat that Giuliani might demand sex from her at any moment. She claimed that Giuliani drank “morning, noon, and night.” He also took Viagra, according to the lawsuit. “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 wrote in her complaint.
Dunphy said she was first pressured into performing oral sex on Giuliani a few days after she began working for him as director of business development on a $1 million a year salary. That generous offer was a “sham” motivated by Giuliani’s desire to pursue a sexual relationship, according to the complaint. Giuliani said in a recorded statement that he “wanted [Ms. Dunphy] from the day [he] interviewed [her].” Giuliani has paid her $12,000 in cash, according to the complaint.
While staying as a guest in Giuliani’s Upper East side apartment, Dunphy said she exited the bathroom to find the former mayor in his suite. The former mayor then sat on the bed and pulled down his pants in a scene reminiscent of Giuliani’s behavior in the 2020 film by comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, Borat: Subsquent Moviefilm. (Giuliani claimed that he had acted appropriately in Borat.)
“Giuliani then pulled her head onto his penis, without asking for or obtaining any form of consent,” the complaint states. “He had 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 said she felt “extreme pressure” to go along with Giuliani’s demands because she did not want to lose her promised salary and the former mayor’s promises to represent her pro bono in legal matters arising from a domestic abuse case.
On more than occasion, Dunphy says she was too intoxicated to consent to sex with Giuliani. The former mayor also initiated sex with Dunphy over her objections, even after being told no, according to the complaint.
According to Dunphy’s complaint, Giuliani told her he liked receiving oral sex while he was on the phone with then President Trump and others because it made him “feel like Bill Clinton.” The former mayor also told Dunphy that he was concerned Trump might try to steal her away from working with Giuliani, the lawsuit alleges.
In her 70-page court filing, Dunphy also backed up previous reports that Giuliani was selling pardons. Giuliani said in 2019 he was “selling pardons for $2 million, which he and President Trump would split,” according to the complaint. The New York Times has previously reported that former CIA officer John Kiriakou was told that Giuliani could help him secure a pardon for $2 million. Kiriakou rejected the offer, but an associate, fearing that Giuliani was illegally selling pardons, alerted the FBI, the Times reported.
Dunphy claims that Giuliani instructed her not to talk to the FBI about various matters she had witnessed while working for him. According to the complaint, Giuliani threatened that he had access to professional investigators who could make her look bad, according to the complaint.
Dunphy says in the complaint that she recorded Giuliani—with his consent—discussing the penis size of Jewish men and remarking how Black and Hispanic men “hit women more than anybody,” according to the complaint. He also made used an anti-gay slur to attack Matt Damon and claimed that Mayor Michael Bloomberg “became gay” because his wife left him, according to the lawsuit.
