Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani is engaged in "histrionics" by claiming that he could be left homeless if he had to sell his $3.5 million Florida condo, his creditors have claimed in court.
Giuliani is fighting to keep his Palm Beach home after filing for bankruptcy.
Giuliani declared bankruptcy after a Georgia jury awarded $148 million to two Georgia election workers who had taken a defamation lawsuit against him.
While working as an election attorney for Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election, Giuliani falsely alleged that mother and daughter Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss had committed election fraud while counting ballots in Fulton County, Georgia.
His creditors, who want Giuliani to pay part of his debts by selling the condo, also contest Giuliani's "absurd" claim that he needs his Palm Beach home to record his podcast.
In a filing in bankruptcy court in Manhattan, New York, on April 1, lawyers for the creditors committee strongly contested a court briefing by Giuliani's attorney on Thursday, in which he wrote that selling the condo could leave Giuliani homeless.
Newsweek sought email comment from Giuliani's spokesman on Tuesday.
"The Debtor also resorts to histrionics, asking '[s]urely the Committee does not intend the Debtor to join the ranks of the homeless?' It seems hardly worth pointing out that there is a vast gulf of housing options available between residing in an approximately $3.5 million Palm Beach condominium and homelessness," according to the April 1 filing by Philip C. Dublin, an attorney for the creditors.
Dublin adds: "Moreover, there is plenty of case law establishing the fact that '[a] debtor cannot file a chapter 11 petition and claim an entitlement to live in the style to which he or she has become accustomed.'"
The filing also objects to Giuliani's claim that he needs to record his podcast at the condo.
"The Debtor also alleges that, '[o]nce the New York apartment is sold, the Debtor will need a place to operate the Podcast from if he is to earn money therefrom; the only remaining location would be from the Florida Condominium'."
"The Debtor further absurdly asserts that he is 'actually saving money [by keeping the Florida Condo] as he does not need to pay for and maintain both a Podcast studio and a residence in both New York City and Florida'," Dublin writes.
He added that this contradicted Giuliani's statement at a creditor's meeting after filing for bankruptcy.
He quotes Giuliani as telling the meeting: "Sometimes, maybe a third of the time I'm on the road. So I recently spent four or five days in New Hampshire during the New Hampshire primary. And I broadcast from a – I think we used a [sic] we used a hotel. . . . At least a third of the time I'm doing it on the road, or I might do it at home because I have a device called a Comcast that allows me to broadcast anywhere in the world."
In their filing on Thursday, Giuliani's lawyers said he "could be irreparably harmed if the Florida residence is sold and later it turns out that the Freeman judgment is vacated."
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Sean O'Driscoll is a Newsweek Senior Crime and Courts Reporter based in Ireland. His focus is reporting on U.S. law. ... Read more
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