Hunter Biden is agreeing to drop a civil lawsuit against Rudy Giuliani and Giuliani’s former lawyer Robert Costello, according to a court filing Thursday.
The president’s son last year formally accused Giuliani and Costello of violating computer fraud and data access laws, alleging they manipulated data from their “storage devices or platforms.”
Lawyers for the three parties presented the agreement, which stipulates that Biden agrees to drop the lawsuit and that each man will pay his own legal fees.
The lawsuit initially sought more than $75,000 in damages, as well as attorney fees and other penalties.
“Since Giuliani is in bankruptcy and agreed to put the case on hold when it was over, it didn’t make sense to continue it in a non-bankrupt court until that happened,” a person familiar with the process told NBC News on Thursday. .
Giuliani filed for bankruptcy protection in December after he was hit with a $148 million verdict for defaming two former Georgia election officials.
Biden’s lawyers, Giuliani’s representative and Costello did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Thursday’s court filing, which U.S. District Judge Jessica Clarke is expected to review before it is finalized.
Biden alleged in September that Giuliani, Giuliani’s businesses, Costello and 10 unidentified individuals were “among those who were primarily responsible for what was described as the ‘total annihilation’ of Plaintiff’s digital privacy.”
Biden attorney Paul Salvaty argued in the filing that the defendants “devoted an extraordinary amount of time and energy to searching, hacking, tampering with, manipulating, copying, disseminating, and generally obsessing over data” that was “taken or stolen.” of Biden’s “storage devices or platforms.”
The suit also alleged that Biden’s digital data was “manipulated, altered and damaged” before being sent to Giuliani and Costello.
Giuliani adviser Ted Goodman said at the time that “Hunter Biden has already refused to admit ownership of the laptop.”
“I’m not surprised that he now falsely claims that his laptop’s hard drive was tampered with by Mayor Giuliani, considering the sordid material and possible evidence of crimes on that thing,” Goodman continued in last year’s statement.
Biden filed suit in the Central District of California; later moved to the Southern District of New York.
Costello was a lawyer for Giuliani, a former New York mayor and former lawyer for former President Donald Trump, but he sued him in September, arguing that Giuliani owed him $1.36 million in unpaid legal fees.
Thursday’s order comes two days after Biden was found guilty of three federal gun charges. He has not yet been convicted. He is scheduled to stand trial in September on separate tax charges.
Sarah Fitzpatrick contributed.
This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com read the full story
