Rudy Giuliani sued for alleged sexual assault

NEW YORK (AFP): A former associate of Rudy Giuliani sued the ex-New York mayor for $10 million on Monday, alleging he subjected her to “wide-ranging sexual assault and harassment.”

Noelle Dunphy also accuses Giuliani of wage theft and “alcohol-drenched rants that included sexist, racist, and anti-Semitic remarks” that made her work environment “unbearable.”

The lawsuit says that the former personal lawyer for Donald Trump “often demanded oral sex while he took phone calls on speaker phone from high-profile friends and clients, including then-President Trump.”

The suit, filed in a New York state court, says that Dunphy began working for Giuliani in January 2019 as his director of business development on a salary of $1 million a year.

She alleges that Giuliani began abusing her almost immediately after she started working for him.

“He made clear that satisfying his sexual demands — which came virtually anytime, anywhere — was an absolute requirement of her employment and of his legal representation,” the lawsuit said.

It says that Giuliani, 78, coerced Dunphy into giving him oral sex “against her will” at his apartment.

The lawsuit also alleges that Giuliani “often demanded that she (Dunphy) work naked, in a bikini, or in short shorts with an American flag on them that he bought for her.”

The suit says that Giuliani would often video-call the plaintiff “from his bed, where he was visibly touching himself under a white sheet.”

Dunphy also claims that Giuliani said her pay “would have to be deferred and her employment kept ‘secret'” until his divorce proceedings finished.

The lawsuit seeks $10 million in damages.

A spokesperson for Giuliani said in a statement sent to US media that Giuliani “vehemently and completely denies the allegations in the complaint and plans to thoroughly defend against these allegations.”

“This is pure harassment and an attempt at extortion,” the spokesperson said.

Giuliani was mayor of New York for eight years, earning national acclaim for leading the US financial capital in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US by Al-Qaeda.

But his reputation has plummeted in recent years, in large part due to his promotion of the conspiracy theory that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump.