Bankrupt Rudy Giuliani Wants To Liquidate His Assets

Former New York mayor, Rudy Giuliani, wants to liquidate his assets, a New York bankruptcy court heard yesterday.

His request was strongly opposed by a lawyer for two Georgia election workers who successfully sued Giuliani for $148 million.

Their lawyer, Rachel Strickland, yesterday 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, including the two Georgia election workers he wrongly accused of rigging the 2020 election in Joe Biden's favor.

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.

Strickland added that Giuliani's lawyers had been arguing that a trustee was not required to monitor his finances and are now suddenly arguing that he should enter Chapter 7 liquidation.

Giuliani declared bankruptcy in December, 2023 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 alleged mother and daughter Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss committed election fraud while counting ballots in Fulton County.

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

Strickland told the court that Giuliani "continues to ignore court orders" to disclose his income and assets.

"This is right out of the playbook of Mr Giuliani. He has barely participated in the process. Now he is facing a motion to compel discovery, he conveniently files an application to convert to a Chapter 7," she said.

"He knows that a motion to appoint a trustee is pending and he knows that once that is granted, which is a strong presumption, he would be foreclosed from seeking this relief under [federal bankruptcy rule] 11.12.a."

The creditors are seeking to have a trustee appointed because they claim Giuliani is seeking to hide assets and income from them and cannot be trusted to give an honest account of his true financial worth.

Giuliani's lawyers have repeatedly denied the accusation in legal briefs.

The case comes just a day after a New York appellate court disbarred Giuliani as a lawyer for the false claims he made about Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss.

His spokesman told Newsweek at the time that Giuliani was the victim of political persecution.