Rudy Giuliani's girlfriend, who was reportedly a doctor, is back in the spotlight. Here's what we know about her

MMedical advisor. Podcast host. Brand ambassador. Rudy Giuliani's “alleged girlfriend.”

Maria Ryan has held many titles in recent years, all while remaining in the orbit of New York's disgraced mayor.

She promoted his personal coffee brand, co-hosted radio shows with him and even emailed Trump campaign officials about her salary as the former president's personal lawyer.

Now, Giuliani's high-profile bankruptcy case has thrust her once again into the spotlight, with her creditors denouncing payments made to Ryan, whom they considered his “girlfriend” – a title the couple continues to vehemently deny.

So what do we know about the former hospital director 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 settle his credit card bills.

But those close to them have denied any romantic relationship, insisting they are just friends and business partners.

Michael Ragusa, Giuliani's security chief, said The Independent Last month, he said Ryan “was Mayor Giuliani's business partner and nothing more.” He added, “Any rumors that she is his girlfriend are false rumors invented by the Mayor's enemies to harm his reputation and that of anyone associated with him.”

Relationship rumors have persisted for years. In 2018, the The New York Daily News The couple were spotted together at a New Hampshire resort as Giuliani was in the midst of a divorce from his third wife, Judith Nathan. Giuliani told the newspaper he met his “good friend” Ryan for work reasons.

Ryan, who was married at the time and appears to still be, denounced the accusation as “politically motivated,” saying New Hampshire Business Magazine:”A small group of us went to dinner and that's where it ended.”

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

The transcript shows Giuliani, apparently speaking about Ryan, telling Dunphy: “She has a great bond with her family, and she loves me. But she can't leave her family, including her husband.”

“Besides the fact that all this time has passed and she's going to leave him, leave him, leave him, she's still here,” the former mayor continued. “I get along with him better than she does.”

Giuliani recalls Ryan asking him about a hypothetical scenario involving her husband, Robert Ryan: “If we got married, could Bob live with us? You two seem to get along really well.”

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

After the transcript was released, Giuliani's attorney accused Dunphy's attorneys of “deliberately omitting” portions of the conversation where Giuliani acknowledges that her husband “knew about the relationship.”

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

The Independent emailed Giuliani's spokesman for comment on the transcripts. Ryan declined to comment. The Independent's investigation into their relationship.

'Doctor'

“I’m Dr. Maria,” Ryan said in a May 14 video promoting Rudy Coffee, the former mayor’s new coffee line. One X user criticized his title, accusing him of not being a “real doctor (MD, DO, ND).”

“I am definitely a real medical doctor and a certified nurse practitioner,” she replied angrily. “So I can practice independently to diagnose, treat, prescribe, etc. Don’t slander me, since you don’t even know me. Maybe you need a good coffee.”

This wasn't the first time Ryan had touted his doctorate.

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

Although Ryan has devoted decades to medicine (she is a licensed nurse practitioner and has served as CEO of a hospital), she is not a doctor.

Her resume indicates that she earned a doctorate from Warren National University, a now-defunct unaccredited school that was formerly known as Kennedy-Western. A 2004 Senate Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on Kennedy-Western described it as “an unaccredited school whose academic requirements do not meet the standards of legitimate institutions.”

In 2009, the year he graduated, the university closed after the Wyoming Department of Education revoked its registration.

Ryan spoke about his alma mater's lack of accreditation Business In 2017, she joked that the program simply gave structure to everything she had already learned in her professional experience. “I hate to say it, but I don’t know what else it could teach me,” she said.

She defended her degree by saying The Independent“My four degrees are legitimate. When I started at (Warren National), it was accredited and my state recognizes it.”

The Council for Higher Education Accreditation said otherwise, statingThe Independent: ““There is no information that Warren National University has ever been accredited by any accrediting body recognized by CHEA or the U.S. Department of Education.”

Giuliani's business partner

Ryan, who stepped down as CEO of Cottage Hospital in New Hampshire in 2021, said she was deeply invested in Giuliani's business dealings and had 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 for the consulting firm Giuliani Partners.

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

More recently, Ryan has branched out into the media world with Giuliani. After their WABC radio show was canceled in May, she announced a televised concert that was set to launch 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, something the bankruptcy creditors disputed, accusing the former mayor of spending money intended for his estate on her.

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

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

Ryan has been subpoenaed in the case, although she denies ever receiving a subpoena.

She tried to “evade” the bailiff “by closing the door” on May 14, according to the creditors, who are now threatening to sue her for contempt of court for failing to produce the documents by the June 4 deadline.