A former employee of Rudy Giuliani has filed a $3.1 million sexual harassment lawsuit against him, alleging he abused her while she endured toxic working conditions.
Noelle Dunphy, a writer and business consultant who has worked for Giuliani since 2019, said the two had a romantic relationship but claimed things changed when he started abusing alcohol and demanding sexual favors from her, reports the daily beast.
In her lawsuit, filed Wednesday in the New York Supreme Court, Dunphy wrote, “Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former US Attorney once hailed as ‘America’s Mayor,’ is a sexist sex offender and abuser.”
She also claimed he made racist and bigoted remarks in his office and threatened her to keep quiet by bringing up his ties to former President Donald Trump.
Noelle Dunphy (left), writer and business consultant, accused Rudy Giuliani of sexually harassing her when she worked for him between 2019 and 2021
Dunphy filed a $3.1 million lawsuit against the former mayor of New York City, alleging he also created a toxic work environment and threatened her when she tried to speak out
According to the lawsuit, Dunphy, who is representing herself, began working for Giuliani after he hired her for “business development work and other work” in January 2019.
“It started with Rudy as my boss and attorney and later became romantic,” Dunphy told the Daily Beast.
She said Giuliani offered his legal advice during this time to help her “achieve justice” over the abuse she suffered earlier in her life.
Instead of providing legal advice, however, the lawsuit alleged that Giuliani “frequently got drunk while debating legal issues, and he used his attorney to pressure her during attorney-client deliberations over sexual quid pro quos.”
“As a result of Giuliani’s legal misconduct, [Dunphy] Victimized again, victimized again, traumatized again, left without a remedy, and significantly worse off than when Giuliani agreed to represent her in hopes of seeking justice for an abuse,” the lawsuit reads .
“Instead, Giuliani capitalized on the traumatic details of [Dunphy’s] previous victimization to fulfill his morally bankrupt sexual compulsions and fetishes.’
Giuliani’s attorney, Robert Costello, said his client denied the allegations and said Dunphy was never an employee of the former New York City mayor.
“These are defamatory allegations written by a person without a lawyer because no lawyer would associate himself with this nonsense,” the lawyer said in a statement.
Dunphy claimed she entered into a romantic relationship with Giuliani after he hired her in January 2019, with the attorney reportedly offering her his services
Dunphy said that instead of providing legal insight into a case of abuse she suffered, Giuliani victimized her again by demanding sexual favors in exchange for his help
Along with the sexual harassment claims, Dunphy alleged that Giuliani created a toxic work environment fueled by heavy drinking.
“Despite attempting to cultivate a public image of himself as ‘America’s Mayor,’ Giuliani frequently made racist, bigoted, anti-Semitic, anti-LGBTQ, and misogynist remarks, often during confused and hostile alcoholic tirades, further compounding the toxicity of the.” workplace working under his direction, which adds to chronic and pervasive violations of applicable New York State and New York City laws prohibiting discrimination in the workplace,” the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit also claimed that Giuliani would start drinking alcohol first thing in the morning and continued drinking throughout the day, which “affected his behavior.” [Dunphy’s] boss and lawyer.’
Then in 2021, after allegedly facing more sexual harassment, Dunphy said Giuliani fired her for no reason and didn’t pay her for the work she did.
Despite agreeing to “be a secret employee,” she told the Daily Beast she has hard evidence to support her allegations of non-payment and a toxic work environment.
When she complained, the lawsuit claims Giuliani threatened to keep her quiet.
“During those times, Giuliani threatened [Dunphy] with further retaliation if she failed to remain silent, and stated that his private investigators and political ties to President Trump enabled him to retaliate in other ways, explicitly and implicitly,” she wrote in the lawsuit.
Dunphy also accused Giuliani of creating a toxic work environment, saying he often got drunk and made racist and bigoted remarks in his office
Giuliani has denied all allegations, claiming Dunphy never worked for him
Finally, Dunphy claims that alcohol abuse was spurred on by Giuliani’s divorce from his third ex-wife, Judith, and its mounting political and legal controversies in the final years of the Trump administration.
According to her website and LinkedIn, Dunphy is a writer and business development consultant who previously worked for an ABC news network in Rhode Island.
She promotes her move into politics by collaborating at events with Trump, Giuliani, the Clintons, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and a host of other former politicians.
Her blog also has many pictures of her with Giuliani posing at events between 2017 and 2020.