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 his “devices or storage platforms.”
Attorneys 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.
The lawsuit initially sought more than $75,000 in damages, as well as attorneys’ fees and other penalties.
“As 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 non-bankruptcy court until that happens,” a person familiar with the filing 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 workers.
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 must review before it is finalized.
Biden had alleged in September that Giuliani, Giuliani’s businesses, Costello and 10 unnamed individuals were “among those who have been primarily responsible for what has been described as the ‘total annihilation’ of Plaintiff’s digital privacy.”
Biden’s 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 Biden’s “devices or storage platforms.”
The lawsuit also alleged that Biden’s digital data was “manipulated, altered, and damaged” before it was sent to Giuliani and Costello.
Giuliani adviser Ted Goodman said at the time that “Hunter Biden has previously refused to admit ownership of the laptop.”
“I’m not surprised he’s now falsely claiming his laptop hard drive was manipulated by Mayor Giuliani, considering the sordid material and potential evidence of crimes on that thing,” Goodman continued in last year’s statement.
Biden filed the suit in the Central District of California; it later moved to the Southern District of New York.
Costello 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 $1.36 million in unpaid legal fees.
Thursday’s filing comes two days after Biden was found guilty on three federal gun-related charges. He has not yet been sentenced. He is set to go on trial in September on separate tax-related charges.
