WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 15: Rudy Giuliani, the former personal lawyer for former U.S. President Donald Trump, departs from the E. Barrett Prettyman U.S. District Courthouse after a verdict was reached in his defamation jury trial on December 15, 2023 in Washington, DC. A jury has ordered Giuliani to pay $148 million in damages to Fulton County election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
After being ordered to pay $148 million for defaming election workers, Rudy Giuliani has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in New York.
The ex-Mayor of New York City presented a filing in the US Bankruptcy Court of the Southern District of New York on Thursday (December 21), per court records obtained by the NPR. He calculated the range of his estimated liabilities to be $100,000,001 to $500 million.
On Friday (December 15), a jury declared that he must pay two Fulton County election workers, Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, nearly $ 150 million in damages for alleging their interference with the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.
A federal judge mandated on Wednesday that Giuliani must pay the election workers without delay, so he would not be able to conceal any of his personal financial resources.
A spokesperson for Giuliani, Ted Goodman, declared that the bankruptcy filing would provide a window of opportunity to appeal the defamation judgment. As Goodman noted, it would have been unreasonable for anyone to think that his client would be able to come up the money.
“No person could have reasonably believed that Mayor Rudy Giuliani would be able to pay such a high punitive amount,” Goodman said in a statement, per Reuters.
Joe Sibley, the lawyer for Giuliani, informed the jury last week that the amount of compensation Freeman and his daughter Moss demanded is as severe as a civil punishment can be.
It is unlikely that Giuliani’s bankruptcy petition will erase the $ 48 million debt he owes to the polling staff since bankruptcy regulations do not allow erasing debts from “willful and malicious injury” against others, according to the Washington Post.
Michael Gottlieb, the attorney of the two election workers, said that this plan was not surprising and it would not clear Giuliani’s obligation to pay Freeman and Moss.
At one point in time, Giuliani had a high reputation, known as “America’s mayor,” and his assets totaled more than $ 50 million, per BBC News. However, his promotion of Trump’s allegations of election fraud initiated a series of unfortunate events. This included financial difficulties, criminal accusations, and, of course, his hefty legal expenses.
It was just in September when Donald Trump held a fundraiser at his Bedminster, New Jersey golf club to support his former legal advisor amid his rising legal expenses in the defamation case.
