Trump ally Rudy Giuliani files for bankruptcy following defamation case

Trump ally Rudy Giuliani files for bankruptcy following defamation case


Giuliani was fined $148 million for falsely accusing two 2020 election officials of aiding and abetting voter fraud.

Rudy Giuliani has filed for bankruptcy just days after he was ordered to pay $148 million to two former Georgia poll workers he falsely accused of fraud as he worked to overturn Donald Trump’s defeat in the 2020 presidential election.

The former New York mayor listed assets ranging from $1 million to $10 million and liabilities of up to $500 million in a bankruptcy filing Thursday to protect his creditors.

The largest of his debts is $148 million in federal court in Washington, DC ordered him to pay on Dec. 15 to Ruby Freeman and her daughter Wandrea “Shaye” Moss for repeatedly making false claims that they were involved in voter fraud in 2020.

The Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition filed in a New York bankruptcy court also listed debts ranging from hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars to the Internal Revenue Service, New York tax authorities and his former lawyers and accountants.

“Unknown” amounts were also recorded as owed Hunter Bidenthe son of former President Joe Biden, and voting machine companies Dominion and Smartmatic.

Hunter Biden, Dominion and Smartmatic have all filed Lawsuits against Giuliani. They last.

A spokesman for Giuliani said the bankruptcy filing would give him time to appeal the $148 million penalty and ensure other creditors were treated fairly.

“No one could have reasonably believed that Mayor Rudy Giuliani would be able to pay such a large fine,” said spokesman Ted Goodman.

Giuliani, 79, was found guilty in August by U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell of defaming Freeman and Moss, both Fulton County poll workers, with his 2020 election lies on Trump’s behalf.

An eight-member federal jury awarded Freeman and Moss more than $16 million each for defamation, $20 million each for emotional distress and $75 million in punitive damages.

Giuliani, who led Trump’s legal effort to overturn the election results, released a video of the two falsely accusing them of vote-counting fraud and made numerous other unsubstantiated claims about them.

Freeman and Moss, who are Black, told the jury during the four-day trial that Giuliani’s false accusations upended their lives and made them the target of racist threats.

“The flame that Giuliani lit with those lies and passed on to so many others to keep that flame burning changed every aspect of our lives, our homes, our families, our jobs, our sense of security, our sanity,” Moss said .

The defamation case is just one of several legal challenges for Giuliani, who has been charged with racketeering in Georgia along with Trump and others for allegedly conspiring to overturn the 2020 election results in the southern state.

Giuliani served as mayor of New York from 1994 to 2001, leading the city through the shock of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and becoming known as the “Mayor of America” ​​- before signing on as Trump’s personal lawyer during his time in the White House.



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