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Medical adviser. Podcast host. Brand ambassador. Rudy Giuliani’s “alleged girlfriend.”
Maria Ryan has gone by many titles in recent years — all the while remaining in the disgraced New York City mayor’s orbit.
She’s touted his personal coffee brand, co-hosted radio shows with him, and even emailed Trump campaign officials about his salary as the former president’s personal attorney.
Now, Giuliani’s high-profile bankruptcy case has thrust her into the spotlight yet again, with his creditors calling out payments to Ryan, whom they’ve deemed his “girlfriend” – a title that the pair continue to vehemently deny.
So what do we know about the former hospital executive 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’s been given “unauthorized payments” to clear her credit card statements.
But those in their inner circle have denied a romantic relationship, insisting they’re just friends and business partners.
Michael Ragusa, Giuliani’s head of security, told The Independent last month that Ryan “is Mayor Giuliani’s business partner and nothing more.” He continued: “Any reports of her being his girlfriend are false rumors made up by the mayor’s enemies to damage his reputation and anyone associated with him.”
The relationship rumors have persisted for years. In 2018, the New York Daily News reported that the pair were spotted together at a New Hampshire resort as Giuliani was in the middle of a divorce from his third wife, Judith Nathan. Giuliani told the newspaper he met with his “good friend” Ryan for business purposes.
Ryan, who was married at the time and appears to still be, decried the accusation as being “politically motivated,” telling Business NH Magazine: “A small group of us went to dinner and that’s where it ends.”
But in a recorded conversation with his former employee Noelle Dunphy, Giuliani spoke at length about his relationship with Ryan, claiming they’d had a two-year affair but she’d never leave her husband. The recording was included as evidence in an ongoing sexual assault case brought by Dunphy against Giuliani in 2019.
The transcript captured Giuliani, apparently speaking about Ryan, telling Dunphy: “She has this tremendous connection to her family, and she loves me. But she can’t leave her family, including her husband.”
“In addition to the fact that it’s been all this time and she’s going to leave him, leave him, leave him — she’s still there,” the former mayor continued. “I get along with him better than she does.”
Giuliani recalled Ryan asking him about a hypothetical scenario involving her husband, Robert Ryan: “If we get married, could Bob live — could Bob live with us? You seem — the two of you seem to get along so well.”
He then confessed: “We’ve had this, like, affair for two years and I’m friendly with her husband.”
After the transcript’s release, Giuliani’s lawyer accused Dunphy’s lawyers of “deliberately leaving off” parts of the conversation where Giuliani acknowledges her husband “knowing about the relationship.”
The transcript was a “blatant attempt” to embarrass Giuliani, according to his lawyer who also filed a motion to strike it from the court record.
The Independent emailed Giuliani’s spokesperson for comment on the transcripts. Ryan did not comment on The Independent’s inquiry about their relationship.
‘Doctor’
“I’m Dr Maria,” Ryan declared in a May 14 video promoting Rudy Coffee, the former mayor’s new line of self-branded coffee. An X user took issue with her title, accusing her of not being a “real doctor (MD, DO, ND).”
“I most certainly am a real PhD doctor and a board certified nurse practitioner,” she fumed in response. “Therefore I can practice independently to diagnose, treat, prescribe etc. Do not defame me, since you don’t even know me. Perhaps you need a good quality coffee.”
It wasn’t the first time Ryan has touted her doctorate degree.
Ryan goes by “Dr Maria” on X, where she has denounced the coronavirus vaccine and lauded hydroxychloroquine as a Covid-19 treatment. She’s also told the judge in Giuliani’s bankruptcy case in a June 15 letter that she, “Dr Maria Ryan,” was the former mayor’s “medical director and advisor.”
While Ryan has dedicated decades to medicine — she is a licensed nurse practitioner and served as the CEO of a hospital — she is not a medical doctor.
Her resume states that she obtained a PhD from Warren National University, a now-defunct unaccredited school that used to be named Kennedy-Western. In 2004, a Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs hearing focused on Kennedy-Western University described it as “an unaccredited school with academic requirements that fail to meet the standards of legitimate institutions.”
In 2009 — her graduation year — the university shut down after the Wyoming Department of Education revoked its registration.
Ryan addressed her alma mater’s lack of accreditation to Enterprise business magazine in 2017, joking the program simply gave structure to everything she had already learned through her work experience. “I hate to say this, but I don’t know what more it could teach me,” she said.
She defended her degree, telling The Independent: “All four of my 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, tellingThe Independent: “There is no information that indicates Warren National University was ever accredited by a recognized accreditor of CHEA or the US Department of Education.”
Giuliani’s business associate
Ryan — who resigned from her role as CEO of New Hampshire’s Cottage Hospital in 2021 — has indicated she is deeply invested in Giuliani’s business affairs and has 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 in a full-time capacity “to oversee the structure and to forward the company’s mission in the media space.” She has remained there since.
More recently, Ryan has gotten into the media business with Giuliani. After their WABC radio show was canceled in May, she announced a TV gig that was set to launch on June 25 on FrankSpeech – a broadcast channel run by MyPillow’s Mike Lindell.
Bankruptcy
Ryan’s name cropped up repeatedly during a June 17 hearing in the former mayor’s bankruptcy case. Documents show that Giuliani paid off Ryan’s credit card statements, which bankruptcy creditors took issue with, accusing the former mayor of spending money meant for his estate on her.
She clarified to the judge in her letter that the money that Giuliani paid was a “reimbursement.”
She explained that because Giuliani Communications was a “fledgling” business, both she and Giuliani would use their own cash to fund it. Ryan wrote: “At times I would use my credit card, or my personal money to help Mayor Rudy Giuliani with groceries, medicine or other bills. The Mayor would reimburse me, using his retirement fund.”
Ryan has been subpoenaed in the case — although she denies ever having been served.
She tried to “evade” the process server “by closing the door” on May 14, according to creditors, who are now threatening to hold her in contempt for not producing documents ahead of the June 4 deadline.
