Rudy Giuliani faces questions from his creditors over potential conflicts of interest related to how he will pay lawyers in his ongoing legal battles, new court documents in his bankruptcy case show.
The former Donald Trump attorney and New York City mayor plans to appeal a $148 million December judgement against him, while also battling to keep law licenses in New York and D.C. To continue with his legal disputes, Giuliani has been paying three law firms via two separate third-party legal funds, one of which, named Giuliani Defense, is run by his son, Andrew, according to a new filing by the two Georgia election workers awarded the $148 million payout.
Ruby Freeman and Wandrea Moss say Giuliani "has not disclosed basic information" to show his lawyers aren't financed using funds from his own estate.
"Given the totality of the circumstances—including that Mr. Giuliani's son is President of Giuliani Defense—it is essential to obtain clarity on how the Legal Defense Funds were themselves funded," the February 15 filing said.
In a separate filing on the same day, Giuliani's other major creditors argued that the former Donald Trump attorney has refused to provide sufficient information about his legal defense funds. In his bankruptcy application, Giuliani previously said he had $50 in cash, $14,000 in a Citibank checking account and $351 in a Citibank savings account.
In response to the filings, Gary C. Fischoff, a lawyer for Giuliani, told Newsweek: "We dispute those allegations and expect to supplement our filings to clear up such allegations."
Giuliani filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December 2023, shortly after he was ordered to pay $148 million in defamation damages to Freeman and Moss, two former Georgia election workers who were the victims of harassment by Donald Trump supporters after Giuliani and the former president spread 2020 election fraud claims.
Giuliani is facing a string of potential financial difficulties. In September, his former lawyer Robert Costello sued him over claims he owes him more than $1.36 million in unpaid legal fees.
Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden, also filed a suit against Giuliani and Costello in September 2023 over claims they breached data privacy when the pair accessed information from his personal laptop, which had been left at a repair shop in Delaware.
In a previous statement ahead of Giuliani's meeting with his creditors at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, Ted Goodman, a spokesman for Giuliani, said the former New York mayor is the victim of political persecution.
"The only reason we're here today is because Mayor Rudy Giuliani has the courage to speak up and take on the permanent Washington political class, and he refuses to be unfairly censored or bullied into silence," Goodman said.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
