Lawsuit: Rudy Giuliani accused of sexual assault, harassment by former employee
NEW YORK - Noelle Dunphy's lawsuit against Rudy Giuliani and his companies contains explosive allegations accusing Giuliani of sexual abuse, harassment, and refusing to pay her a promised salary.
Dunphy says Giuliani hired her in 2019 as a 24/7, on-call assistant and his director of business development. As a lawyer, Giuliani also represented Dunphy in her ongoing domestic violence dispute with an ex-partner.
As a well-known, powerful man, who in 2019 had then President Donald Trump's ear, she says he made it clear he was untouchable.
Attorney Justin Kelton, part of Dunphy’s legal team, told FOX 5 NY: "(Dunphy) alleges that he told her that 'people don't report me.' 'I don't have an HR department because I don't need an HR department and that if anyone were to report me my private investigators would, in a nutshell, make them sorry that they did.'"
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Kelton says his client was forced into unwanted sex with Giuliani. She claims he never paid her a $1 million a year salary over the course of two years because he was in the middle of a bitter divorce with then wife Judith Nathan, and Nathan's lawyers were watching his cashflow.
"She's in this very difficult situation where her boss and her lawyer are putting this immense pressure on her, and she really could not see a way out of it," Kelton said.
Kelton says his client has audio recordings of many of Giuliani's sexual demands and hostile behavior, adding: "She alleges that he was frequently drunk when he was around her and that when he got drunk he made awful comments. Sexist comments, racist comments."
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Randy Zelin is a criminal defense attorney. He is not connected to this civil lawsuit, but says recorded comments, emails and texts that Dunphy says she has can carry a lot of weight.
"This is a problem for Mr. Giuliani," Zelin said. "It makes this complaint quite credible."
Through a spokesperson, Giuliani vehemently denies the allegations and says he will pursue whatever legal action he can against his accuser.