Rudy Giuliani files for bankruptcy days after being ordered to pay $148 million in a defamation case

The former New York City mayor listed nearly $153 million in existing or potential debts, including almost $1 million in tax liabilities, money he owes lawyers and many millions of dollars in potential legal judgments in lawsuits against him. He estimated he had assets in the range of $1 million to $10 million.

The eye-popping damages verdict that Giuliani was ordered to pay a week ago resulted from his false statements about the election workers. They said his targeting of them after Trump narrowly lost Georgia to Democrat Joe Biden led to death threats that made them fear for their lives.

But declaring bankruptcy likely will not erase the $148 million in damages a jury awarded to the former Georgia election workers, Ruby Freeman and Wandrea’ “Shaye” Moss. Bankruptcy law does not allow for the dissolution of debts that come from a “willful and malicious injury” inflicted on someone else. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell in Washington said Freeman and Moss did not have to wait the standard 30 days before starting work to collect the judgment, finding that Giuliani could use that time to hide his assets.

After the verdict, Giuliani said he would appeal, repeated his claims that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump, insisted he did nothing wrong and suggested he would keep pressing his claims even if that means losing all his money or ending up in jail.

Giuliani’s financial woes have worsened due to investigations, lawsuits, fines, sanctions, and damages related to his work helping Trump try to overturn the 2020 election.

Giuliani’s lawyer, Adam Katz, suggested at an August court hearing in one of those cases that Giuliani was “close to broke,” and unable to pay a number of bills, including a $12,000 to $18,000 tab for a company to search through his electronic records for evidence.

In September, Giuliani’s former lawyer Robert Costello sued him for nearly $1.4 million in unpaid legal bills. Giuliani claimed he never received them. The case is pending.

Investigators noted Giuliani’s dwindling finances in court papers unsealed this week from the 2021 raid, citing bank records and other information showing he’d gone from having about $1.2 million in the bank and $40,000 in credit card debt in January 2018 to about $288,000 in cash and $110,000 credit debt in February 2019.

Giuliani is also being sued by a woman who said she worked for him, alleging he owed her nearly $2 million in unpaid wages and had coerced her into sex; and for defamation by a man who slapped him on the back and called him a “scumbag” at a supermarket. Giuliani has denied the woman’s claims and has asked for the man’s lawsuit to be thrown out.

Giuliani’s bankruptcy filing did not detail his assets or says how he has been making money.

Capitalizing on his “America’s Mayor” fame, Giuliani has also hawked autographed 9/11 shirts for $911 dollars. On social media, he’s pitched sandals sold by election denier Mike Lindell’s My Pillow company, offering up “Rudy” as a promo code for extra savings.

He also been on Cameo, a service where celebrities record short videos for profit. Giuliani was charging $325 for his greetings, though a recent check shows they are “temporarily unavailable.”

In September, Trump hosted a $100,000-a-plate fundraiser for Giuliani at his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club. Giuliani’s son, Andrew, said the event was expected to raise more than $1 million for Giuliani’s legal bills.

Meantime, a criminal trial awaits Giuliani in Georgia. Giuliani has pleaded not guilty in the case, which accuses him of participating in a wide-ranging conspiracy to thwart the will of Georgia’s voters who had selected Biden over Trump. Giuliani faces 13 charges, including violation of Georgia’s anti-racketeering law, the federal version of which was one of his favorite tools as prosecutor in the 1980s.

Associated Press writer Lindsay Whitehurst in Washington contributed to this report.