NEXT 'CHAPTER' FOR RUDY? 11!
‘$148M loser’ bankrupt bid
Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Thursday in the wake of a $148 million civil court ruling and a mountain of unpaid legal bills.
Giuliani, 79, estimates he currently owes $153 million — an amount likely to balloon due to other pending lawsuits and when millions of dollars in pending legal bills are factored in, according to the Manhattan federal court filing.
Once hailed as “America’s Mayor,” Giuliani indicated in the court filing that he had debts of between $100 million and $500 million, with assets of up to $10 million.
The $148 million settlement in Georgia was the biggest financial blow to Giuliani, but he also owes the IRS more than $700,000 and more than $260,000 to New York state tax authorities, according to the bankruptcy filing first reported by Bloomberg News.
“The filing should be a surprise to no one,” Giuliani lawyers Heath Berger and Gary Fischoff said in a statement Thursday. “No person could have reasonably believed that Mayor Giuliani would be able to pay such a high punitive amount.”
They said the filing “will afford Mayor Giuliani the opportunity and time to pursue an appeal under the supervision of the bankruptcy court to ensure all creditors are treated equally and fairly throughout the process.”
No regrets
Following the Georgia defamation verdict last Friday, Giuliani claimed he didn’t “regret a damn thing” and scoffed at “the absurdity of the number” awarded to the mother-and-daughter poll workers Ruby Freeman and Shay Moss, who sued him for defamation after he repeatedly accused them of committing voter fraud during the 2020 election ballot count in Fulton County.
Giuliani lawyer Joe Sibley called the ruling “the civil equivalent of the death penalty” that would “be the end of Mr. Giuliani” if his appeals were to fail.
But Giuliani — one of Donald Trump’s staunchest supporters — has been buried in legal bills that are likely to mount.
He is still under indictment on racketeering and conspiracy charges in Georgia and is being sued for defamation by two software voting systems companies, Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic Corp., for claiming they were instrumental in rigging the 2020 election.
In September, the law firm that represented Giuliani sued for $1.4 million in unpaid fees.
Freeman and Moss said they were concerned Giuliani would “find a way to dissipate [his] assets” before they’d be able to recover the cash owed to them.
‘Won’t get off hook’
Ron Kuby, a lawyer seeking $2 million on behalf of Daniel Gill — a Staten Island supermarket worker charged with assault after Giuliani claimed Gill violently attacked him — said the Chapter 11 filing likely won’t get Giuliani off the hook in the $148 million verdict because it’s the type of “intentional misconduct” that doesn’t qualify for bankruptcy protection.
Gill’s lawsuit was listed in the filing as one of several cases that have Giuliani on the hook, along with unpaid legal bills and income taxes.
Five other pending suits that could cost Giuliani millions more, including one filed by Hunter Biden, as well as one from ex-employee Noelle Dunphy, who accused Giuliani of sexual harassment.