A New York bankruptcy judge ordered the dismissal on Friday Rudy Giulianiis an attempt to provide bankruptcy protectionleaving two old election workers he repeatedly slandered They came close to collecting a $146 million judgment against him after the 2020 race.
U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Sean Lane of the Southern District of New York initially ruled last month that he would dismiss Giuliani’s case, but last week he said he might. need to reconsider It does so because the former New York City mayor failed to pay nearly $400,000 in administrative and accounting expenses in the case.
Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer was reached agreement He said last week that $100,000 of those expenses will be paid now, with the rest when he sells one of his homes in New York or Florida. If this does not happen within the next six months, action can be taken to collect the rest of the money under the contract.
A judge signed off on the deal on Friday.
Lane’s order gives Giuliani one business day after the ruling to pay the $100,000, at which point the case will be formally dismissed. The ruling also bars Giuliani from filing for bankruptcy again for one year.
The bankruptcy filing allowed Giuliani protection from creditors under the “automatic stay” feature of federal bankruptcy lawwith certain exceptions, it stays ongoing litigation as well as the enforcement of pre-existing judgments.
Giuliani filed for bankruptcy protection in December days after he was hit with a $148 million defamation judgment for repeated false allegations that then-Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and her daughter Wandrea “Shaye” Moss engaged in voter fraud. Later the judge reduced the award $2 mln.
Lane said in July file a bankruptcy caseAlleging that Giuliani failed to turn over any necessary information about his businesses while providing incomplete or inaccurate information about his personal expenses.
“The lack of financial transparency is particularly troubling,” Lane said last month.
Giuliani’s spokesman said at the time that Giuliani wanted the case over because it would prevent an appeal of Freeman’s conviction and subject him to “voluminous and overbroad intelligence requests.”
Spokesman Ted Goodman did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday night, nor did attorneys for Freeman and Moss.
When Lane first dismissed the case last month, Rachel Strickland, a lawyer for Freeman and Moss, said Giuliani’s bankruptcy filing was “in bad faith” and that the dismissal would mean mother and daughter “can begin to go to trial and make a decision. Rudy is paying for his malicious lies.” .