Rudy Giuliani files for bankruptcy following $146 million defamation suit judgment

MONEYWATCH
Rudy Giuliani files for bankruptcy following $146 million defamation suit judgment
moneywatch
BY MEGAN CERULLO

UPDATED ON: DECEMBER 21, 2023 / 8:16 PM EST / MONEYWATCH


Former New York City mayor and Donald Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani filed for bankruptcy Thursday, according to a court filing.

Giuliani filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy less than a week after a jury ordered him to pay $146 million in damages to Fulton County election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, who sued him for defamation. He estimates his liabilities are between about $100 million and $500 million. The damage award was originally set at $148 million, but the federal judge presiding over the case later reduced it to $145,969,000.

"This maneuver is unsurprising, and it will not succeed in discharging Mr. Giuliani's debt to Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss," Michael Gottleib, a lawyer for the two women, said in a statement.

On Wednesday, Judge Beryl Howell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, ordered Giuliani to compensate the pair of election workers immediately, expressing concern that he may have been dishonest about his finances and that he might not comply with the judgment.

Giuliani had falsely claimed in the wake of the 2020 presidential election that the election workers engaged in a fake ballot processing scheme. His attorney recently signaled that his pockets weren't deep enough to pay out what Moss and Freeman had been seeking as compensation.