Guilfoyle Hit With Defamation Suit By Donor Behind $100,000 Amex Allegations

Trump donor Eric Deters has sued Kimberly Guilfoyle and her lawyers for defamation, escalating the dispute over an alleged $100,000 American Express payment request that preceded her departure as U.S. ambassador to Greece. Deters announced in a Thursday Facebook post that he filed in Kentucky state court. The defendants include attorneys Jesse Binnall and David M. Schwartz, CBS News reported.

Deters had previewed the lawsuit in a CNN interview Monday, accusing Guilfoyle’s camp of falsely dismissing his text messages as fabricated, branding him a blackmailer and claiming he owed her money.

The filing comes two days after Guilfoyle resigned at the White House’s request amid multiple reports of alleged misconduct. She has denied wrongdoing and pledged to defend her reputation. Her attorneys maintain that the financial dispute concerns unpaid compensation, not the sale of political access.

The $100,000 Request

The controversy erupted after The Wall Street Journal reported that Guilfoyle sought a $100,000 payment directly to American Express while preparing for her Senate confirmation hearing last year. The newspaper reviewed Signal messages in which she discussed helping Deters obtain administration attention for legal and tax matters.

“It won’t show up anywhere if you wire money to American Express,” she wrote, according to the Journal.

Deters was not simply an outside observer complaining about Washington’s influence business. In a Tuesday CNN interview, he said he had paid Guilfoyle $300,000 for speaking appearances and offered her $1 million if she helped with his medical-malpractice litigation, payable when the case settled.

He said he wanted help securing the extradition of a doctor accused of performing unnecessary spinal surgeries, along with an investigation into how the doctor left the country. Deters said Guilfoyle failed to deliver the assistance he sought.

Guilfoyle’s Defense: Unpaid Fees, Not Paid Access

Guilfoyle’s lawyers tell a substantially different story: Deters was a delinquent client, and she was trying to collect money for work already performed.

In an October 10 statement, Binnall and Schwartz said Deters still owed approximately $150,000 for speeches and consulting services. They cited a May 20, 2024 agreement with a third-party booking agency providing for a $200,000 fee, alongside additional speaking and consulting arrangements.

The attorneys said Deters made partial payments but failed to settle the balance, and that Guilfoyle sought to resolve outstanding payments before entering government service.

“Asking a client to pay for work already done is not corruption. It is the opposite of corruption.“

They also said Guilfoyle refused Deters’ separate $1 million offer and indicated they were evaluating legal remedies to collect the alleged debt.

Deters disputes that explanation. In the Tuesday interview, he denied owing Guilfoyle money and said he had been willing to describe the arrangement on paper as payment for prior consulting, while insisting that description was false.

That leaves a consequential dispute over what the money was actually for. The contracts, payment records and communications matter more than either side’s public characterization. The defamation lawsuit does not, by itself, establish that the alleged pay-for-access arrangement occurred.

Deters Eyes Trump’s Inner Circle

Deters is also presenting the lawsuit as a way to pull people close to the president into the dispute.

In his announcement, he said he intends to pursue depositions of Guilfoyle and her former fiance, Donald Trump Jr., and seek administration documents through subpoenas. Those are his stated intentions, not confirmation that the testimony has been scheduled or ordered.

Then came the promised bombshell. According to Mediaite, Deters said he would release a 16-minute telephone recording by the end of Friday, October 16, suggesting it could have repercussions far beyond the former ambassador. 

“This might just bring down the entire Trump administration,” he said. He also suggested the recording could damage the political prospects of Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, while saying he still supports the administration’s policies.