Hunter Biden sues Rudy Giuliani, attorney Robert Costello for "hacking" laptop

Hunter Biden sued Rudy Giuliani and his erstwhile lawyer Tuesday, claiming they hacked and manipulated information connected an outer hard thrust associated with his laptop.

Giuliani and the attorney, Robert Costello, person often acknowledged accessing the hard drive's data. The suit accuses them of having "dedicated an bonzer magnitude of clip and vigor toward looking for, hacking into, tampering with, manipulating, copying, disseminating, and mostly obsessing implicit information that they were fixed that was taken oregon stolen."

Giuliani has sought to overgarment Hunter Biden arsenic a corrupt businessman, who cashed successful connected his father's governmental power. He and Costello person said they were provided the hard thrust successful 2020 by a Delaware machine repair store proprietor who claims Hunter Biden dropped disconnected the laptop the twelvemonth earlier and ne'er returned to retrieve it. In May, Hunter Biden besides sued the machine repair shop owner, John Paul Mac Isaac, who has denied wrongdoing and said helium obtained the laptop legally.

The suit against Giuliani and Costello claims they utilized Hunter Biden's username to summation entree to his data, making copies and sharing it with allies specified arsenic Steve Bannon. 

Giuliani and Costello did not instantly reply to requests for comment.

The information led to a dependable trickle of revelations astir Hunter Biden's often tortured idiosyncratic life, and jetsetting nonrecreational life. Emails and images purportedly from Hunter Biden's laptop information person fueled countless headlines successful blimpish media and Republican claims of corruption. 

But the suit claims immoderate of the information was "tampered with, manipulated" and "altered."

The suit cites statements Giuliani made connected a podcast and his nightly YouTube show, successful which helium boasted astir his entree to the data. 

"This belongs to Hunter Biden," Giuliani said, portion holding up a laptop during a Feb. 2, 2023 occurrence of "America's Mayor Live."

"He proceeded to brag astir having copied [Hunter Biden's] information onto his ain machine and astir having accessed, analyzed and manipulated the transferred data," according to the lawsuit.

Last year, Brian Della Rocca, a lawyer for Mac Isaac, provided to CBS News what helium called an "exact copy" of laptop information fixed by his lawsuit to national investigators successful 2019. 

An autarkic analysis, by 2 cyber investigators from Minneapolis-based Computer Forensics Services, recovered nary grounds that the idiosyncratic information had been modified, fabricated oregon tampered with. But immoderate versions of the hard thrust circulated aboriginal appeared to person had information added aft April 2019, a motion they could person been tampered with, according to reports successful different media outlets, including The Washington Post.

The suit is the latest determination successful a monthslong effort by Hunter Biden's ineligible squad to aggressively propulsion backmost against his Republican antagonizers. In February, his attorney, Abbe Lowell, sent letters to 14 salient Republican media personalities and erstwhile officials who had accused Hunter Biden of corruption oregon disseminated worldly purporting to beryllium from the laptop. Lowell's missive served "notice that a litigation clasp should beryllium successful effect for the preservation and retention" of their records related to Hunter Biden.

They've since sued Mac Isaac, the IRS, a erstwhile Trump White House aide, and sent a cease and desist missive to erstwhile President Donald Trump's ineligible team, alleging defamation.

The suit against Giuliani comes amid mounting ineligible troubles for some Giuliani and Hunter Biden. Giuliani was indicted by a Fulton County, Georgia expansive assemblage connected Aug. 15, on with erstwhile President Donald Trump and 17 others, and accused of taking portion successful a "criminal enterprise" portion trying to overturn the state's 2020 statesmanlike predetermination results.

A period later, Hunter Biden was indicted by a national expansive assemblage connected charges related to his alleged acquisition of a firearm successful October 2018 portion helium was allegedly a cause user. The indictment came aft a plea woody fell isolated successful July betwixt the authorities and Hunter Biden's attorneys regarding his taxes and a diversion statement connected a firearms charge.

Giuliani and Hunter Biden person each entered not blameworthy pleas successful their respective cases, and contradict wrongdoing.

Giuliani and Costello had for astir fractional a period been adjacent friends, a enslaved that appeared to fracture suddenly, erstwhile Costello sued Giuliani connected Sept. 19. Costello, who has represented Giuliani successful a assortment of transgression and civilian matters, claimed successful the suit that Giuliani owes his instrumentality steadfast astir $1.4 cardinal successful unpaid ineligible fees.

Giuliani told CBS News helium was "personally hurt" by Costello's lawsuit. Costello changeable back, saying Giuliani had taken "the debased road."

In:
• Rudy Giuliani
• Hunter Biden