The judge presiding over Rudy Giuliani's bankruptcy claim scrutinized the "exceedingly brief" motion filed by the former New York City mayor and Trump attorney.
United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Southern District of New York Sean Lane told Giuliani's lawyers that the concerns surrounding his bankruptcy filing raise "legitimate questions" about what it would mean for the $148 million in damages that Giuliani has been ordered to pay the two Georgia poll workers he defamed because Giuliani's team has been vague in what they are seeking from the court.
"The motion itself that I received is exceedingly brief. It's fairly pro forma. I think it's probably 5 pages of content," Lane said during Friday's hearing. "There's only really two paragraphs about what it is, how those apply, what's going to happen or what the debtor [Giuliani] wants to do."
"A lot of the concerns are heightened by the fact that people don't know what it is that the debtor wants to do, and that really affects how you look at the motion and how you analyze what should happen, whether the motion should be granted," he told Giuliani's team.
The former mayor is asking Lane for permission to appeal the $148 million he was ordered to pay Fulton County election workers Ruby Freeman and her daughter Shaye Moss. Last month, a jury awarded Freeman and Moss hundreds of millions of dollars for defaming them.
After a judge doubled down on the penalty and ordered Giuliani to pay the mother and daughter immediately, the former mayor filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which granted him an immediate pause on having to pay the penalty.
The $148 million has added to Giuliani's growing financial difficulties as he battles a number of lawsuits that have come with costly legal fees. During Friday's hearing, Giuliani's team highlighted that "there's no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow" and that the only way Giuliani has not been "drained" by his legal challenges is because there are two legal defense funds that have been, and continue tom pay those expenses.
"He has other financial issues," Giuliani's attorney added. "He's currently suspended from the practice of law so he can't earn income right now as a lawyer."
In response to Lane's request that Giuliani clarify what he's seeking to achieve by filing bankruptcy, his lawyer told the judge that he believes the dollar amount determined in the Freeman case to be "unreasonable" and that he was asking the court to address the figure, either vacating or modifying the verdict.
"We're not looking to litigate the merits, only to the extent that they affected damages, but agreed, the liability portion...I don't think that's subject to challenge," Giuliani's attorney said.
Update 1/19/24, 1:19 p.m. ET: This story was updated with additional information.
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Katherine Fung is a Newsweek reporter based in New York City. Her focus is reporting on U.S. and world politics. ... Read more
