Rudolph Giuliani’s creditors, as well as the judge overseeing his bankruptcy, are demanding details about who is paying his legal fees.
The calls on Friday for details about his donors came as the former New York City mayor seeks to challenge a $148 million judgment that prompted him to file for bankruptcy in December. A jury ordered Giuliani to pay the award after he lost a defamation lawsuit to two Georgia poll workers he accused of trying to rig the 2020 presidential election.
A Giuliani litigation fund has been backed by “hundreds” of donors, most of them contributing under $100, his legal team said in a Friday bankruptcy court filing. The fund also received a $10,000 donation and a $25,000 donation, according to the filing.
Gary C. Fischoff of Berger Fischoff Shumer Wexler & Goodman LLP, one of Giuliani’s bankruptcy lawyers, said during a court hearing Friday that Giuliani hadn’t contributed to the fund. But Judge Sean H. Lane of the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York pushed for a definitive answer, in writing.
“Mr. Fischoff, let’s not be cute about this,” Lane said. The lawyers are supposed to provide a statement acknowledging Giuliani and his related businesses are not directly or indirectly linked to the funds, Lane said.
Lane said Giuliani’s lawyers need to submit in the coming days an amended filing with further detail on the source of the money and clarifying language regarding third-party financing for retaining counsel.
Philip C. Dublin of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, representing a committee of Giuliani’s unsecured creditors, said Friday that the committee wants an itemized account of where the money came from, how it’s managed, and how it’s disbursed.
“It’s in essence been like pulling teeth to get the information,” Andrea Schwartz, an attorney for the Justice Department’s bankruptcy watchdog, said during Friday’s hearing.
A Friday filing lists James Menges as trustee for the fund. Camara & Sibley LLP, which represented Giuliani in the Georgia poll worker defamation suit, was paid about $288,000 in legal fees between May 2022 and January 2024, according to the document.
“The debtor is not spending money that’s available to creditors to help defend and prosecute these litigations,” Heath Berger of Berger Fischoff Shumer told Bloomberg Law after the hearing. “It’s a win-win for the estate and for the creditors because it’s money coming from a third party. That’s the best thing you can do in bankruptcy.”
The case is Rudolph W. Giuliani, Bankr. S.D.N.Y., No. 23-12055-shl, 2/16/24.