Rudy Giuliani files 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.
Giuliani’s filing came a day after a federal judge entered a ruling Washington DCordered him to begin paying election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss the money, and three days after they filed a new lawsuit seeking to stop him from defaming the mother and daughter again.
The US Bankruptcy Court filing in Manhattan legally pauses, for now, the $146 million defamation judgment against the former mayor of New York City that resulted from last week’s jury verdict.
Giuliani, while representing Trump in efforts to reverse his defeat on the heels of the 2020 election, falsely accused Freeman and Moss of ballot fraud. The claims have sparked death threats against them.
Their lawyer, Michael Gottlieb, in a statement about Giuliani’s bankruptcy petition, said, “This maneuver is not surprising, and it will not succeed in discharging Mr. Giuliani’s debt to Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss. “
Giuliani’s filing estimated that he had 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 was the bulk of that total, Giuliani also declared that he owed nearly $1 million to the IRS and the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance for unpaid taxes, and owed which is several million dollars in various laws. companies.
Giuliani was sued in September by his former attorney 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 Dominion and Smartmatic election machine companies, President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden, and former Giuliani employee Noelle Dunphy, who accused 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 attorneys said in a statement Thursday, “The filing should not come as a surprise to anyone.”
“No one could reasonably believe that Mayor Giuliani would be able to pay such a high penalty” from the defamation case, attorneys Heath Berger and Gary Fischoff said.
“Chapter 11 will give 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 that all creditors are treated equally and fairness throughout the process,” the lawyers said.
In addition to serving two terms as mayor of New York, Giuliani is a former Department of Justice official and former Manhattan US Attorney.
Giuliani was in the final months of his mayoralty on September 11, 2001, when a terrorist attack flattened the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan.
After widespread praise for his leadership of the city in the wake of that attack, he earned 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 solely as a result of massive ballot fraud.
Earlier this year, Giuliani, Trump, and 17 other people were charged in a Georgia court with crimes related to an alleged conspiracy in their efforts to undo his defeat in the state that in the 2020 election. Giuliani pleaded not guilty in that case, as did Trump and most of the other defendants.
In July, the DC Bar Association’s disciplinary board recommended that Giuliani be stripped of his law license as a result of his false election fraud claims.
Giuliani’s New York law license was suspended because of those claims.
— Additional reporting by CNBC’s Jim Forkin.
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