Rudy Giuliani's Creditors Blast His 'Farcical' Legal Move

Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani is making a "farcical" attempt to get rid of his bankruptcy creditors, a new court filing has alleged.

Lawyers for his creditor committee complained to a New York bankruptcy judge that Giuliani is trying to liquidate his assets so that he will not have to pay his debts. They also say Giuliani's life is not a Disney movie and he can't simply wish problems away.

They were replying to Giuliani's request in bankruptcy court to convert from Chapter 11 bankruptcy to Chapter 7 liquidation. Chapter 7 requires no payment plan for creditors, unlike Giuliani's current Chapter 11 bankruptcy, in which he has to give creditors a plan for payment and a monthly report on his income and expenditure.

In their filing on Monday, his creditors claimed that Giuliani should not "escape accountability" simply because "he filed a farcical pleading before the Court had the opportunity to appoint a chapter 11 trustee."

"The few sentences composing the entirety of the Conversion Application include the Debtor's 'wish' to convert his Chapter 11 case to a case under Chapter 7," the filing stated in its objection. "Unfortunately for the Debtor, this bankruptcy case is not a Disney movie, and the Debtor's wish is not this Court's command," the creditor lawyers stated.

"Since day one, Giuliani has regarded this case and the bankruptcy process as a joke, hiding behind the façade of an elderly, doddering man who cannot even remember the address for his second multimillion dollar home and claims impending homelessness if he must sell that second multimillion dollar home," their filing claims.

Giuliani declared bankruptcy in December after a jury awarded $148 million to two Georgia election workers who had won a defamation lawsuit against him. As an attorney for Trump in 2020, Giuliani falsely accused mother and daughter Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss of adding ballots for Joe Biden.

Newsweek sought email comment from Giuliani's spokesman on Tuesday.

In the filing, the creditor lawyers accuse Giuliani of showing disrespect to the New York bankruptcy court, the two election workers in Georgia and the Washington, D.C., court where the pair were awarded $148 million.

"Giuliani has treated this Court, the bankruptcy process and the Committee the same way he treated the D.C. District Court and the Freeman Plaintiffs in the Freeman Litigation, with utter disrespect and without accountability," the filing states.

It also notes that Giuliani was recently disbarred as a New York attorney as a result of the Freeman defamation case.

"Given Giuliani's disgraceful behavior in this bankruptcy case, preceded by his disgraceful behavior in the Freeman Litigation, it comes as no surprise that Giuliani was recently disbarred in New York," the creditor lawyers state. "The New York Supreme Court's decision on Giuliani's disbarment just as easily could have been written about Giuliani and this bankruptcy case. This chicanery is what he does and who he is."

Giuliani's attempt to liquidate his assets was also strongly opposed at a July 3 court hearing by a lawyer representing the two Georgia election workers.

Their lawyer, Rachel Strickland, told Judge Sean Lane that Giuliani's request showed "incredible bad faith" just as his debtors were seeking disclosure of his assets.

"This is right out of the playbook of Mr Giuliani. He has barely participated in the process," she told the court.

If Giuliani succeeds in converting his Chapter 11 bankruptcy to a Chapter 7 liquidation, it means that his assets will be sold off and he will longer be under obligation to his creditors.

Strickland also accused Giuliani of seeking to liquidate his assets before a court-appointed trustee can be placed in charge of his finances. She said that once a trustee is appointed, Giuliani would have no right to liquidate his assets.

She said that Giuliani is "banking" on liquidation so that the court will dissolve the Giuliani creditor committee and end an investigation into his finances by their law firm, Akin Gump.

"We too are wholly against it and do not believe that this is something the debtor can do as a matter of right," she said.