Former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani files for bankruptcy protection, lists more than $100 million in debts

Rudy
Giuliani
filed
for
Chapter
11

bankruptcy
protection
in
New
York
on
Thursday,
citing
debts
that
include
a
nearly
$150
million
recent
civil
judgment
for
defaming
two
Georgia

election
workers
while
serving
as
a
lawyer
for
former
President

Donald
Trump.

The
filing
by
Giuliani
came
a
day
after
a
federal
judge
in

Washington,
D.C.,
ordered
him
to
begin
paying
election
workers
Ruby
Freeman
and
Shaye
Moss
monetary
damages,
and
three
days
after
they
filed
a
new
suit
seeking
to
bar
him
from
again
defaming
the
mother
and
daughter.

The
U.S.
Bankruptcy
Court
in
Manhattan
filing
legally
pauses,
for
now,
the
$146
million
defamation
judgment
against
the
former

New
York
City
mayor
that
resulted
from
a
jury
verdict
last
week.

Giuliani,
while
representing
Trump
in
efforts
to
reverse
his
loss
on
the
heels
of
the
2020
election,
falsely
accused
Freeman
and
Moss
of
ballot
fraud.
The
claims
sparked
death
threats
against
them.

Their
attorney,
Michael
Gottlieb,
in
a
statement
about
Giuliani’s
bankruptcy
petition,
said,
“This
maneuver
is
unsurprising,
and
it
will
not
succeed
in
discharging
Mr.
Giuliani’s
debt
to
Ruby
Freeman
and
Shaye
Moss.”

Giuliani’s
filing
estimates
he
has
assets
worth
between
$1
million
and
$10
million
and
estimated
current
liabilities
of
between
$100
million
and
$500
million.
A
worksheet
in
the
filing
lists
his
current
actual
debts
at
$151.8
million.

While
the
defamation
judgment
is
the
lion’s
share
of
that
total,
Giuliani
also
declared
he
has
nearly
$1
million
in
debt
to
the
IRS
and
New
York
State
Department
of
Taxation
and
Finance
for
unpaid
taxes,
and
that
he
owes
several
million
dollars
in
debts
to
various
law
firms.

Giuliani
was
sued
in
September
by
his
former
lawyer
Robert
Costello
for
$1.36
million
in
unpaid
legal
fees
dating
back
to
late
2019.

The
list
of
nonsecured
creditors
in
the
new
filing
includes
plaintiffs
currently
suing
him,
among
them
the
Dominion
and
Smartmatic
election
machine
companies,
President

Joe
Biden‘s
son
Hunter
Biden,
and
former
Giuliani
employee
Noelle
Dunphy,
who
accuses
him
of
sexual
harassment
and
wage
theft.

Filers
use
Chapter
11
of
the
Bankruptcy
Code
to
reorganize
their
debts
and
come
up
with
a
plan
to
pay
their
creditors.

His
bankruptcy
lawyers
in
a
statement
Thursday
said,
“The
filing
should
be
a
surprise
to
no
one.”

“No
person
could
have
reasonably
believed
that
Mayor
Giuliani
would
be
able
to
pay
such
a
high
punitive
amount”
from
the
defamation
case,
the
attorneys,
Heath
Berger
and
Gary
Fischoff
said.

“Chapter
11
will
afford
Mayor
Giuliani
the
opportunity
and
time
to
pursue
an
appeal,
while
providing
transparency
for
his
finances
under
the
supervision
of
the
bankruptcy
court,
to
ensure
all
creditors
are
treated
equally
and
fairly
throughout
the
process,”
the
lawyers
said.

In
addition
to
serving
two
terms
as
New
York
mayor,
Giuliani
is
a
former
Department
of
Justice
official
and
former
Manhattan
U.S.
Attorney.

Giuliani
was
in
the
final
months
of
his
mayoralty
on
Sept.
11,
2001,
when
a
terror
attack
leveled
the
Twin
Towers
of
the
World
Trade
Center
in
lower
Manhattan.

After
being
widely
lauded
for
his
leadership
of
the
city
on
the
heels
of
that
attack,
he
made
millions
of
dollars
from
consulting
work
and
made
a
failed
bid
for
the
White
House
in
2008.

In
recent
years,
Giuliani
has
been
criticized,
sued,
and
prosecuted
for
actions
during
his
work
as
Trump’s
lawyer.
Since
late
2020
he
has
made
false
claims
that
Trump
lost
to
Biden
only
as
a
result
of
widespread
ballot
fraud.

Earlier
this
year,
Giuliani,
Trump,
and
17
other
people
were
charged
in
Georgia
court
with
crimes
related
to
an
alleged
conspiracy
in
their
efforts
to
undo
his
defeat
in
that
state
in
the
2020
election.
Giuliani
has
pleaded
not
guilty
in
that
case,
as
have
Trump
and
most
of
the
other
defendants.

In
July,
the
disciplinary
board
of
the
D.C.
Bar
Association
recommended
that
Giuliani
be
stripped
of
his
law
license
as
a
result
of
his
false
election
fraud
claims.

Giuliani’s
law
license
in
New
York
is
suspended
due
to
those
claims.

—
Additional
reporting
by
CNBC’s


Jim
Forkin.

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