Rudy Giuliani has filed for bankruptcy in New York with staggering debts of $153 million owed to creditors including two Georgia election workers he defamed, lawyers, the IRS, and Hunter Biden.
It was a stunning setback for the man who became known as ‘America’s Mayor’ in the wake of 9/11 and was once a realistic contender for President of the United States.
The former New York Mayor, who led the effort to challenge the 2020 election result on behalf of Donald Trump, filed court documents showing he had less than $10 million in assets.
On Friday, Giuliani, 79, was put on the precipice of financial ruin when a jury ordered him to pay $148 million in damages to election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss for claiming they tried to rig the vote for Joe Biden.
In August, Giuliani admitted having ‘financial problems’ as he battled multiple court cases and said he didn’t have enough money to defend himself.
He filed his petition in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, court documents showed.
In the filing, Giuliani said he had between $100 million and $500 million in liabilities and $1 million to $10 million in assets.
The filing listed Hunter Biden as one of his creditors, without specifying the amount Giuliani owed him.
‘Unknown’ amounts were recorded as being owed to the president’s son, and the election voting machine companies Dominion and Smartmatic.
Hunter Biden, Dominion and Smartmatic have all filed lawsuits against Giuliani which are ongoing.
In September, Hunter Biden sued Giuliani, accusing the former mayor of violating his privacy over data allegedly taken from his infamous laptop.
Giuliani also listed owing at least $700,000 to the Internal Revenue Service and more than $260,000 to the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance.
Giuliani listed Hunter Biden as a potential creditor after the president’s son sued him for breach of privacy over data from his laptop
In a statement Heath Berger and Gary Fischoff, Giuliani’s bankruptcy lawyers, said the move was predictable after the defamation court case.
They said: ‘The filing should be a surprise to no one. No person could have reasonably believed that Mayor Giuliani would be able to pay such a high punitive amount.’
The lawyers said Chapter 11 bankruptcy would ‘afford Mayor Giuliani the opportunity and time to pursue an appeal, while providing transparency for his finances.’
It would ‘ensure all creditors are treated equally and fairly throughout the process,’ they said.
Giuliani said he had nearly $1 million in tax liabilities and also owes money to his lawyers, and many millions of dollars in potential legal judgements in lawsuits against him.
On Tuesday, Giuliani was spotted at a jewelry shop in Manhattan, although it was unclear if he bought any items.
He walked into Madison Jewelers on 3rd Avenue after leaving his office.
Declaring bankruptcy will not erase the $148 million in damages he owes to the Georgia election workers.
Bankruptcy law does not allow for the dissolution of debts that come from a ‘willful and malicious injury’ inflicted on someone else.
In September, Giuliani’s former lawyer Robert Costello sued him for $1.4 million in unpaid legal bills.
Giuliani has asked a judge to dismiss that case, claiming he never received the invoices at issue.
In August, the IRS filed a $549,435 tax lien against Giuliani for the 2021 tax year.
Rudy Giuliani is shown in a police booking mugshot in Fulton County Georgia where he has pleaded not guilty in an election case
This summer Giuliani was criminally charged in Georgia and accused of trying to overturn the state’s 2020 election result.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis charged him under the same racketeering laws that Giuliani once used to go after the mob as a federal prosecutor in New York City.
He is one of 18 people accused of being part of a ‘criminal enterprise’ and has pleaded not guilty, as has Trump.
After the $148 million defamation ruling last week Giuliani blamed on the ‘fascist system run by the Biden regime.’
He said he didn’t ‘regret a damn thing’ and his lawyers described the damages as the ‘civil equivalent of the death penalty.’
Outside court, Giuliani said his claims ‘were supportable and are supportable today.”
He has since been sued for a second time by the two Georgia election workers.
They are seeking a court order to permanently bar Giuliani from ‘persisting in his defamatory campaign’ against them
