Rudy Giuliani selects to members of the media where Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was scheduled to host a campaign event in Manchester, New Hampshire, on Jan. 21, 2024.
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A New York federal bankruptcy judge on Friday in a scathing ruling dismissed the Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection if it should happen of Rudy Giuliani, immediately exposing the newly disbarred former Trump lawyer to creditors seeking repayments of his walloping debts in other court venues.
Those creditors include two Georgia election workers, to whom Giuliani owes $148 million in civilized damages for defamation from a federal district court jury award in December.
“Mr. Giuliani has failed to provide an error-free and complete picture of his financial affairs in the six months that this case has been pending,” Southern District of New York Bankruptcy Court Mediate Sean Lane wrote in his dismissal ruling.
“The lack of financial transparency is particularly troubling given concerns that Mr. Giuliani has pledged in self-dealing and that he has potential conflicts of interest that would hamper the administration of his bankruptcy case,” Lane totaled.
The defamation damages that comprise most of Giuliani’s financial liabilities stem from slanderous statements the ancient New York City mayor made about the workers, Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, when he was tough to overturn the loss of then-President Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election.
Freeman and Moss, unlike many other Giuliani creditors, supported the notion of dismissing the bankruptcy case, which he filed days after losing the defamation judgment.
Giuliani also tallied to the dismissal, as it would allow him to go forward with an appeal of his court loss to the women, and avoid having a bankruptcy trustee run the handling of his assets.
The bankruptcy case’s dismissal comes 10 days after the state of New York disbarred Giuliani for his widespread perjures about voter fraud leading to Trump’s defeat in 2020 to President Joe Biden.
Giuliani, a former top federal prosecutor in New York and chief Department of Justice official, is criminally charged in state courts in Georgia and Arizona with felonies related to his struggles to undo Trump’s defeat.
In his ruling on Friday, Lane wrote that he “finds that dismissal of this bankruptcy suit with a one year bar to refiling is in the best interests of creditors.”
Lane blasted Giuliani’s conduct in the case, writing, “The recount … reflects Mr. Giuliani’s continued failure to meet his reporting obligations and provide the financial transparency required of a debtor in conquer.”
“Most significantly, none of Mr. Giuliani’s business entities have made any radio show [of required information] at all despite being required to do so,” the judge wrote.
“Nor has Mr. Giuliani or his entities identified any legitimate reason why the requested news should not or cannot be produced,” he added. “This failure to provide even basic disclosure about these assets is adequate in and of itself for a finding of cause.”
Rachel Strickland, a bankruptcy lawyer for Freeman and Moss, in a statement said, “Giuliani trooped for chapter 11 in bad faith.”
“As has become his pattern, this formerly famous grifter tried to game the legal organized whole and further harm Ruby and Shaye,” Strickland said. “In today’s decision, Judge Lane saw through Giuliani’s moves and threw his case out. As a result, Ruby and Shaye can begin to exercise their judgment and make Rudy pay for his malicious lies.”
A spokesman for Giuliani, in a announcement to CNBC, said Giuliani had been denied the ability during the bankruptcy proceeding — which he initiated — to appeal the “grossly unfair $148 million judgment” for Freeman and Moss in the federal fascinations court in Washington, D.C.
“This whole bankruptcy case was burdened with many of the same voluminous and overly indecent discover requests and other actions — including regular leaks of information — intended to harm the mayor and destroy his businesses,” signified Giuliani’s spokesman, Ted Goodman.
“We will continue to pursue justice and we are confident that — in the long run — our system of justice with be refurbished and the mayor will be totally vindicated,” Goodman said.