Rudy Giuliani Faces Mounting Debt and Legal Troubles Following Trump Support
(CNN) — Rudy Giuliani, former New York City mayor and personal attorney to Donald Trump, is facing hundreds of thousands of dollars in bills and legal penalties, in addition to new criminal charges related to his work for the former president after the 2020 election.
Giuliani acknowledged in court on Monday that the legal challenges have left him in a dire financial situation. To cope with the cash crunch, Giuliani has even listed a 3-bedroom Manhattan apartment he owns for $6.5 million.
Apart from standard legal fees, Giuliani is facing nearly $90,000 in penalties from a defamation case, a $20,000 monthly fee to a company for hosting his electronic records, $15,000 or more for a record search, and a $57,000 judgement against his company for unpaid phone bills.
Despite his lawyers’ refusal to provide details of his financial status in court, they argued in a recent filing that producing a detailed financial report would only serve to embarrass Giuliani and draw attention to his misfortunes.
Giuliani’s financial woes are likely to worsen as he awaits court decisions in two defamation lawsuits related to the 2020 election, which could prove consequential.
Although Giuliani’s legal fees have not been directly paid by Trump’s political action committee, campaign finance records and court documents reveal that the PAC has disbursed more than $300,000 in May to a company responsible for handling Giuliani’s archived records for evidence preservation.
“He is having financial difficulties,” Giuliani’s lawyers stated in a recent filing. They further requested more time to pay attorneys’ fees and sought an extension from the court.
In addition to the mounting debts, Giuliani is also facing disbarment proceedings in Washington and New York, with his lawyer’s license already suspended. This suspension has made it even harder for him to earn money. Furthermore, he is dealing with a personal lawsuit filed by a former employee in May, which he is currently contesting.
The recent criminal charges brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis against Trump, Giuliani, and 17 others will undoubtedly add to Giuliani’s legal expenses.
These charges are separate from the ongoing federal investigation into election interference, in which Giuliani is implicated as “co-conspirator 1” in an indictment filed by special counsel Jack Smith. Although he has not been charged, prosecutors continue to investigate his activities, including speaking with Giuliani’s associate, Bernie Kerik.
Regarding Giuliani’s financial troubles, his attorney, Robert Costello, declined to comment.
Following his indictment in Georgia, Giuliani’s political adviser, Ted Goodman, released a statement calling the case “an affront to American democracy.”
Giuliani’s debt primarily stems from his inability to respond fully to lawsuits related to the 2020 election. When the FBI seized several of Giuliani’s cellphones in April 2021, much of his electronic records were stored in a database operated by a company called Trustpoint.One. However, searching for recent litigation records in the database proves to be expensive, with hosting his records alone costing $20,000 a month.
Giuliani expressed a desire to search his records to respond adequately in each election-related lawsuit. However, as of May, he owed over $320,000 to the document hosting company.
Although Giuliani claimed to have obtained funds in May to pay off his outstanding account with Trustpoint, the $340,000 payment was insufficient to cover future searches. Trustpoint has refused further credit, and the bill for storing his data will continue to accumulate.
Giuliani is also dealing with multiple defamation lawsuits. He has been ordered to pay a portion of the legal fees for Georgia poll workers Shaye Moss and Ruby Freeman, which he has yet to fulfill. In another defamation case filed by Smartmatic, the company has requested sanctions against Giuliani for failing to provide necessary documents.
Smartmatic cited payments made to Trustpoint by Trump’s PAC as evidence that Giuliani could comply with their demands. However, Giuliani’s lawyers claim that he cannot afford to pay the additional costs for further document searches.
The Smartmatic defamation case is set for a hearing on Wednesday, where the judge will consider the various issues at hand.
— CNN’s Paula Reid, Marshall Cohen, and Kara Scannell contributed to this report.