Hunter Biden to drop lawsuit against Rudy Giuliani and Robert Costello
pppProfileppSectionspptvppFeaturedppMore From NBCppFollow NBC NewsppThere are no new alerts at this timeppHunter Biden is agreeing to drop a civil lawsuit against Rudy Giuliani and Giulianis former lawyer Robert Costello according to a court filing ThursdayppThe presidents son last year formally accused Giuliani and Costello of violating computer fraud and data access laws alleging they manipulated data from his devices or storage platformsppAttorneys for all three parties filed the agreement which stipulates that Biden agrees to drop the lawsuit and that each man will pay his own legal fees ppThe lawsuit initially sought more than 75000 in damages as well as attorneys fees and other penaltiesppAs Giuliani is in bankruptcy and agreed to have the case waiting for when he is done it made no sense to continue it in a nonbankruptcy court until that happens a person familiar with the filing told NBC News on ThursdayppGiuliani filed for bankruptcy protection in December after he was hit with a 148 million verdict for defaming two former Georgia election workersppBidens lawyers and Costello did not provide a comment on Thursdays court filing which US District Judge Jessica Clarke must review before it is finalized ppIn a statement Giuliani spokesperson Ted Goodman applauded the decision to drop the lawsuitppThis should serve as a reminder to people that despite the unrelenting attacks by partisan Democrats and their allies in the permanent Washington political class Mayor Rudy Giulianis integrity and commitment to the truth is unwavering he saidppBiden had alleged in September that Giuliani Giulianis businesses Costello and 10 unnamed individuals were among those who have been primarily responsible for what has been described as the total annihilation of Plaintiffs digital privacyppBidens attorney Paul Salvaty argued in the lawsuit that the defendants have dedicated an extraordinary amount of time and energy toward looking for hacking into tampering with manipulating copying disseminating and generally obsessing over data that was taken or stolen from Bidens devices or storage platformsppThe lawsuit also alleged that Bidens digital data was manipulated altered and damaged before it was sent to Giuliani and CostelloppBiden filed the suit in the Central District of California it later moved to the Southern District of New YorkppCostello used to be a lawyer for Giuliani the former mayor of New York and onetime lawyer for former President Donald Trump but he sued in September arguing that Giuliani owes him 136 million in unpaid legal feesppThursdays filing comes two days after Biden was found guilty on three federal gunrelated charges He has not yet been sentenced He is set to go on trial in September on separate taxrelated chargesppGary Grumbach produces and reports for NBC News based in Washington DCppMegan Lebowitz is a politics reporter for NBC Newspp 2024 NBC UNIVERSALp
