Giuliani accused of offering to sell Trump’s pardons for $2 million each in new trial
A woman who said she worked for Rudy Giuliani during the last two years of the Trump administration has alleged in a sweeping lawsuit that Giuliani, the former president’s personal attorney, discussed selling presidential pardons and detailed plans to overturn the 2020 election results.
In a 70-page lawsuit filed Monday in New York state court, Noelle Dunphy said that after Giuliani hired her in January 2019, he sexually assaulted and harassed her, refused to pay her his salary and had often made “sexist, racist and anti-Semitic remarks”. “, adding that she had records of many interactions with him.
Dunphy, who is seeking $10 million in compensatory and punitive damages, said Giuliani hired her for $1 million a year plus expenses and pro bono legal representation for a domestic abuse case against a former partner. But after he was hired, according to Dunphy, Giuliani kept his job “secret” and only paid him about $12,000 and reimbursed some of his business expenses, owing him $1,988,000 in unpaid wages. She said she was fired in January 2021.
Giuliani denied the allegations through a spokesperson.
“Mayor Rudy Giuliani unequivocally denies the allegations raised by Ms. Dunphy,” Ted Goodman said in a written statement. “Mayor Giuliani’s lifetime of public service speaks for itself and he will pursue every remedy and counterclaim available.”
Dunphy alleged in his lawsuit that Giuliani talked about presidential pardons. She said Giuliani claimed to have “immunity” and told her “he was selling pardons for $2 million, which he and President Trump would split.” The lawsuit did not suggest that pardons were sold.
Justin Kelton, Dunphy’s attorney, told MSNBC there was no recording of the pardon conversation. “We expect this to be corroborated by other means.” He noted that the complaint alleges another person was present for that conversation — who Kelton said was Lev Parnas, an associate of Giuliani — and that Dunphy’s attorneys would like to speak to Parnas about it.
A spokesperson for former President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.
Hours before leaving office in 2021, Trump pardoned 74 people and commuted the sentences of 70 others.
Giuliani, who has denied allegations that he applied for a pardon himself, told Dunphy she can refer pardon seekers to him, as long as they don’t go through ‘the normal channels’ of the prosecutor’s office of clemency because they would be subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, according to the lawsuit.
Dunphy also alleged that Giuliani gave insight into plans to void the election if Trump lost, telling him “that Trump’s team would claim there was ‘voter fraud’ and that Trump had in fact won the election. ‘election,’ the lawsuit says.
Giuliani’s license in New York law was suspended in June after a state appeals court ruled he made “patently false and misleading” statements about voter fraud in the 2020 election He sought to defend himself against other election-related claims made by an attorneys’ disciplinary committee in Washington, D.C., in December, which said he had “armed his license of law” in a fraud suit. failed election in 2020.
Last year, Giuliani’s attorneys were told he was the target of a criminal investigation in Georgia into efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the state’s 2020 election results. The prosecutor in that case said the charging decisions would be revealed this summer.
CORRECTION (May 16, 2023, 12:01 a.m. ET): A previous version of this article misrepresented the nature of some conversations Dunphy said he had with Giuliani. She alleged Giuliani said he was selling pardons and discussing plans to cancel the 2020 election, but did not say these words were recorded.
Vaughn Hillyard contributed.