NEW YORK (AP) — Rudy Giuliani has settled with Dominion Voting Systems in the company’s $1.3 billion defamation lawsuit stemming from his unfounded claims of election rigging in 2020.
In a filing Friday in federal court in Washington, D.C., both sides announced that the lawsuit against the former New York City mayor and former personal lawyer to President Donald Trump will be permanently dismissed.
The filing did not disclose the settlement terms. Spokespeople for Giuliani and the Colorado-based company confirmed Saturday that the details are confidential and declined further comment.
Dominion initially sued Giuliani in 2021, seeking $1.3 billion in damages after he spearheaded efforts to cast doubt on the 2020 election results. Conservatives and other Trump supporters had blamed the company, a leading voting machine provider, for former President Trump’s loss to Democrat Joe Biden.
Many of these claims, though widely circulated, were unsupported by evidence. Dominion had supplied voting machines for Georgia, a pivotal battleground state that helped flip control of the U.S. Senate to Democrats.
The flood of conspiracy theories surrounding the 2020 election created significant challenges for Dominion, eroded public trust in U.S. elections, prompted calls to ban voting machines, and even led to death threats against election officials.
Investigations by Trump’s former attorney general and others, however, found no widespread election fraud.
Earlier legal settlements with Dominion included Fox News agreeing to pay nearly $800 million in 2023 and Newsmax reaching a $67 million settlement over similar election claims.
The case against Giuliani centered on statements he made across social media, conservative news outlets, and legislative hearings, where he alleged that Dominion conspired to switch votes to Biden.
This lawsuit was among a string of legal and financial challenges for Giuliani related to his promotion of election conspiracy theories. Earlier this month, a New York judge ordered him to pay $1.36 million in legal fees.
In recent years, Giuliani has also been disbarred in both New York and Washington, filed for bankruptcy, and reached a confidential settlement to retain his homes and belongings after being ordered to pay $148 million to two former Georgia election workers he had defamed.
