Rudy Giuliani’s alleged ‘doctor’ girlfriend is back in the spotlight. Here’s what we know about her

Medical advisor. Podcast presenter. Brand ambassador. Rudy GiulianiIt’s “supposed girlfriend”.

Maria Ryan has won many titles in recent years – always remaining in the disgraced the orbit of the mayor of New York.

She praised his personal brand of coffee, co-hosted radio shows with him and even emailed Trump campaign staffers about his salary as the former president’s personal lawyer.

Now, Giuliani’s bankruptcy case has thrust her into the spotlight once again, with her creditors demanding payments from Ryan, whom they consider her “girlfriend” – a title the pair continue to vehemently deny.

So what do we know about the former hospital executive and staunch Giuliani ally?

Giuliani’s ‘girlfriend’

Lawyers for Giuliani’s bankruptcy creditors have repeatedly described Ryan as the former mayor’s “girlfriend” in filings, alleging she received “unauthorized payments” to clear her credit card statements.

But those in his inner circle have denied a romantic relationship, insisting they are just friends and business partners.

Michael Ragusa, Giuliani’s security chief, said The Independent last month that Ryan “is Mayor Giuliani’s business partner and nothing more.” He continued: “Any reports that she was his girlfriend are false rumors concocted by the mayor’s enemies to damage the reputation of him and anyone associated with him.”

Relationship rumors have persisted for years. In 2018, the New York Daily News reported that the two were seen together at a New Hampshire resort when Giuliani was divorcing his third wife, Judith Nathan. Giuliani told the newspaper that he met with his “good friend” Ryan for business purposes.

Ryan, who was married at the time and appears to still be, called the accusation “politically motivated,” saying NH Business Magazine: “A small group of us went to dinner and that’s where it ends.”

But in a recorded conversation with his former employee Noelle Dunphy, Giuliani spoke at length about his relationship with Ryan, claiming they had a two-year affair but she would never leave her husband. The recording was included as evidence in an ongoing sexual assault case brought by Dunphy against Giuliani in 2019.

The transcript captured Giuliani, apparently talking about Ryan, telling Dunphy: “She has a tremendous connection with her family and she loves me. But she cannot leave her family, including her husband.”

“Besides the fact that it’s been all this time and she’s going to leave him, leave him, leave him — she’s still there,” the former mayor continued. “I get along with him better than she does.”

Giuliani remembers Ryan asking him about a hypothetical scenario involving his husband, Robert Ryan: “If we get married, could Bob live — could Bob live with us? You seem… you two seem to get along really well.

He then confessed: “We have had this affair for two years and I am friends with her husband.”

After the transcript was released, Giuliani’s lawyer accused Dunphy’s lawyers of “deliberately leaving out” parts of the conversation in which Giuliani acknowledged that her husband “knows about the relationship.”

The transcript was a “blatant attempt” to embarrass Giuliani, according to his lawyer, who also filed a motion to strike it from the court record.

The Independent emailed Giuliani’s spokesperson for comment on the transcripts. Ryan did not comment The Independentthe question about their relationship.

‘Doctor’

“I’m Dr. Maria,” Ryan declared in a May 14 video promoting Rudy Coffee, the former mayor’s new private-label coffee line. A user X questioned her title, accusing her of not being a “real doctor (MD, DO, ND)”.

“I am certainly a real doctor with a doctorate and a certified nurse,” she fumed. response. “So I can practice independently to diagnose, treat, prescribe, etc. Don’t defame me, because you don’t even know me. Maybe you need a good quality coffee.”

It wasn’t the first time Ryan praised his doctorate.

Ryan goes by “Dr. Maria” in X, where she has reported the coronavirus vaccine and praised hydroxychloroquine as a COVID-19 treatment. She also told the judge in Giuliani’s bankruptcy case on June 15 Letter that she, “Dr. Maria Ryan,” was the former mayor’s “medical director and advisor.”

Although Ryan has dedicated decades to medicine — she is a licensed nurse and served as CEO of a hospital — she is not a doctor.

Her resume states that she earned a doctorate from Warren National University, a defunct, unaccredited school that used to be called Kennedy-Western. In 2004, a Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs Audience focused on Kennedy-Western University described it as “an unaccredited school with academic requirements that do not meet the standards of legitimate institutions.”

In 2009 – the year of his graduation – the university closed after the Wyoming Department of Education revoked its registration.

Ryan addressed his alma mater’s lack of accreditation for Enterprise business magazine in 2017, joking that the program simply structured everything she had already learned in her professional experience. “I hate to say this, but I don’t know what else this could teach me,” she said.

She defended her diploma, telling The Independent: “All four of my degrees are legitimate. When I started at [Warren National]it has been accredited and my state recognizes it.”

The Council for Higher Education Accreditation said otherwise, sayingThe Independent: “There is no information to indicate that Warren National University has been accredited by a recognized CHEA or U.S. Department of Education accreditor.”

Giuliani’s business partner

Ryan — who resigned as CEO of Cottage Hospital of New Hampshire in 2021 — has indicated that she is deeply invested in Giuliani’s business and has worked alongside him for several years.

In her letter to the bankruptcy judge, Ryan wrote that she was hired in 2018 “for a brief assignment” as a consultant with the consulting firm Giuliani Partners.

That same year, she was hired by Giuliani Communications, LLC on a full-time basis “to oversee the structure and forward the company’s mission in the media space.” She has remained there ever since.

More recently, Ryan entered the media business with Giuliani. After her WABC radio show was canceled in May, she announced a TV show that would launch on June 25 on FrankSpeech—a broadcast channel run by MyPillow’s Mike Lindell.

Bankruptcy

Ryan’s name came up repeatedly during a June 17 hearing in the former mayor’s bankruptcy case. Documents show that Giuliani paid Ryan’s credit card bills, which bankruptcy creditors questioned, accusing the former mayor of spending money earmarked for his estate on her.

She clarified to the judge in her letter that the money Giuliani paid was a “reimbursement.”

She explained that because Giuliani Communications was a “fledgling” company, both she and Giuliani would use their own money to fund it. Ryan wrote: “Sometimes I used my credit card or personal money to help Mayor Rudy Giuliani with groceries, medicine or other bills. The mayor would reimburse me, using his retirement fund.”

Ryan was subpoenaed in the case – although she denies being served.

She attempted to “escape” the process server by “shutting the door” on May 14, according to creditors, who are now threatening to hold her in contempt for failing to produce documents before the June 4 deadline.