NEW YORK (AP) — Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani says the lawsuit of a woman alleging he forced her to have sex and owed her nearly $2 million in wages unpaid is “much of the imagination ‘filled with exaggerations and salacious details’ to create a media frenzy.
Giuliani said in court papers he had a consensual relationship with Noelle Dunphy “for a few months” in 2019 when he was former President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, but denied she had never worked for him or that he forced her to have sex.
Dunphy’s lawsuit, filed last month in state court in New York, “contains a blunderbuss of conflicting allegations,” Giuliani said in his written response last Friday. Its “singular purpose” is to defame him, he said.
Giuliani wants a judge to dismiss the lawsuit. If that doesn’t happen, he wants what he described as the most “frivolous, inflammatory and unnecessary” charges dropped from the case. He is also asking that Dunphy be sanctioned by the court for “inappropriate behavior”.
Dunphy’s attorney, Justin Kelton, said Tuesday that Giuliani was the one filling her court documents with “false statements” in a “transparent attempt to avoid having to answer” her allegations under oath.
“The allegations at issue in her motion go directly to the heart of Ms Dunphy’s claims that she worked for Mr Giuliani, that she was subjected to an outrageously hostile work environment and that he repeatedly lobbied on her for unwanted sexual contact,” Kelton said. said. “SP. Dunphy will vigorously oppose Mr. Giuliani’s attempt to expunge his alleged conduct and will hold Mr. Giuliani to account for his misrepresentations.
Giuliani’s political and communications adviser, Ted Goodman, said: “I encourage everyone to read the motion in its entirety. The motion speaks for itself. »
Dunphy claimed in her lawsuit that she worked off the books as Giuliani’s business development director and public relations consultant from 2019 to 2021. She is seeking at least $10 million in damages.
Dunphy claims Giuliani promised to pay him $1 million a year for his consultancy work, but told him he had to withhold payment until he settled his divorce from his third wife, Judith.
Giuliani reached a divorce settlement in December 2019, but Dunphy said all she got from Giuliani was a few cash payments totaling $12,000 to cover living expenses and he still owed her $1,988,000. $.
Among the allegations Giuliani wants out of the lawsuit are Dunphy’s claims that he was an alcoholic womanizer and Viagra drinker who made meeting his sexual demands “an absolute requirement of his job.”
Giuliani also took issue with Dunphy comparing some of his behaviors to the scene in the 2020 film “Borat: Next Movie” where he is shown lying on a bed, tucking in his shirt with his hand in his pants with a young woman acting as a TV reporter nearby.
“This is the very definition of an outrageous and damaging allegation,” Giuliani wrote.
Dunphy claimed in the lawsuit to have made numerous audio recordings of Giuliani, including some in which she says he can be heard making sexual comments, demanding sex, and making sexist, racist and anti-Semitic remarks.
His legal team declined a request from The Associated Press to share those recordings, saying they were part of the litigation.
Dunphy, in her lawsuit, also accused Giuliani of reneging on her promise to represent her, free of charge, in a lengthy legal battle involving domestic violence allegations.
In that legal fight, Dunphy had accused a romantic partner of raping her and throwing her down a flight of stairs. The man she sued filed a countersuit, claiming he was the one who was physically assaulted and harassed. He also sued for defamation, claiming he was the victim of extortion.
Giuliani, in her response to Dunphy’s lawsuit, cited her prior legal dispute as evidence that she is a “seasoned professional at accusing former romantic partners of wrongdoing in civil litigation.”
Dunphy agreed to accept $10,000 to settle its claims in 2016. But the two sides were still squabbling over a final resolution as recently as last year.
The Associated Press generally does not identify people who say they are victims of sexual abuse unless they give permission, as Dunphy did.
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