Rudy Giuliani, former mayor of New York, declared bankruptcy this Thursday, days after a jury ordered him to pay $148 million to two Georgia election employees whom Donald Trump's former personal lawyer also baselessly accused of committing fraud. in the 2020 elections.
The petition, filed in U.S. bankruptcy court in New York, lists his fortune as ranging from $1 million to $10 million in assets and nearly $153 million in existing or potential debts, including hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax liabilities, money he owes his attorneys, and many millions of dollars in potential court judgments in lawsuits against him. In the file submitted to Chapter 11, which arbitrates bankruptcies in the United States, the largest outstanding debt is the $148 million penalty for damages.
For months, the former mayor of New York has experienced, according to the appeal, a lack of liquidity derived from the expenses incurred by his defense on a broad legal front, derived from support for Trump in the attempts to annul the results of the elections in court. 2020 elections, which Democrat Joe Biden won. In September, his former lawyer, Robert Costello, sued him for about $1.4 million in unpaid bills, alleging that Giuliani breached his agreement by not paying the bills in full and on time. Giuliani has asked that the case be dismissed, claiming that he never received the minutes in question. The case is pending.
But a jury's verdict last week, ordering him to pay $148 million to former Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, has pushed him to declare bankruptcy, a day after the judge ordered the immediate execution of the sentence. , a million-dollar payment that, he claims, he cannot satisfy. Declaring bankruptcy – a very common procedure for companies and individuals immersed in legal processes – does not, however, imply the cancellation of payment, since bankruptcy law does not allow the dissolution of debts that come from “intentional and malicious damage” inflicted on another. person, in this case, the two former electoral workers.
Ted Goodman, Giuliani's political advisor and spokesman, explained in a statement that the bankruptcy filing “should not come as a surprise to anyone,” despite Giuliani's personal wealth. “No one can reasonably think that Mayor Giuliani could pay such a large penalty,” Goodman said, noting that filing for bankruptcy would give him “the opportunity and time to file an appeal, while also providing transparency into his finances under the supervision of the bankruptcy court, to ensure that all creditors are treated equitably and fairly throughout the process.”
He Giuliani case It is an important derivative of the process against Donald Trump for his attempts to reverse the electoral result in Georgia, with pressure on the governor of that State and other high officials to find the necessary votes – just under 12,000 votes – to turn the score around. and prevail over Biden, who beat him by that narrow difference. The attempted coup in August earned the Republican candidate for re-election in 2024 – if the Supreme Court does not prevent it, after the prohibition of the Colorado Supreme Court – his fourth indictment in four months. Along with Trump, 18 of his advisors have been formally charged for a total of 41 charges, in the most detailed case of the four against the former president. In addition to Giuliani, another of the defendants is Trump's former chief of staff, Mark Meadows.
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