Hunter Biden Sues Rudy Giuliani for ‘Hacking,’ ‘Manipulating’ Laptop

Hunter Biden, son of President Joe Biden, is suing former Mayor of New York and attorney Rudy Giuliani and another lawyer over alleged allegations of computer fraud and data, relating to an infamous laptop the first son is said to have left at a Delaware computer repair shop.

The lawsuit also names Robert Costello, who previously represented Giuliani as his attorney and Giuliani's companies.

"For the past many months and even years, 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 they were given that was taken or stolen from Plaintiff’s devices or storage platforms, including what Defendants claim to have obtained from Plaintiff’s alleged 'laptop' computer," the suit alleges.

Controversy over the first son's laptop arose in October of 2020 after the shop owner identified Biden as the man who dropped it and left it at his repair shop. The computer was later seized by the FBI and a copy of the external hard drive was given to Giuliani, who was working as former President Donald Trump's attorney at the time. Giuliani called it the "hard drive from hell."

The laptop's contents revealed personal aspects of Biden's life that have been scrutinized by Republicans in an effort to claim corruption in the Biden administration. Thousands of emails have raised eyebrows among conservatives.

The lawsuit alleges that Giuliani, who bragged about having the laptop on a Feb. 2, 2023, episode of "America's Mayor Live," while holding up what he claimed to be Biden's laptop, may have "manipulated" the laptop's contents.

"He proceeded to brag about having copied [Hunter Biden's] data onto his own computer and about having accessed, analyzed and manipulated the transferred data," the lawsuit about Giuliani.

Some reports have found no evidence that the laptop has been tampered with, however copies of the data that circulated later show contents from April of 2019, which suggest they could have been manipulated, according to other reports, including in The Washington Post.

Earlier this month, Biden was indicted in Delaware on criminal charges of being unlawfully in possession of a gun, which he has pleaded not guilty to.

Separately, Giuliani has been charged in the Fulton County, Ga., along with Trump and indictment of 17 other co-conspirators in their efforts to subvert the 2020 election. Giuliani has pleaded not guilty to his charges.

Costello is also suing Giuliani over unpaid legal fees, claiming Giuliani owes him $1.36 million. Giuliani said he was "personally hurt" by his former friend's lawsuit and Costello says Giuliani has "taken the low road."

Biden has also sued former Trump aide Garrett Ziegler for his part in publishing emails, embarrassing and intimate images, videos, and recordings from the laptop.

Updated at 1:25 p.m.