A judge formally closed Rudy Giuliani’s defunct bankruptcy on Friday after he and his creditors resolved a standoff on how to pay out administrative expenses.
The official order unfreezes two Georgia election workers’ attempts to collect their $148 million defamation judgment from the former New York City mayor by lifting bankruptcy protections that for months enabled him to remain in control of his assets.
Three weeks ago, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane decided to dismiss the bankruptcy for cause over Giuliani’s lack of financial transparency that underpinned months of rising tensions. But ever since, the expenses dispute held back Lane from issuing his formal order.
Lane lost his patience with the standoff, which concerned how Giuliani would supply roughly $400,000 to a court-approved firm his creditors hired to investigate his finances. At a heated hearing and in writing, the judge had threatened to force Giuliani, the ex-personal lawyer of former President Trump, to testify under oath to answer questions about his available assets.
In a terse letter filed with the court Wednesday morning, Giuliani and his creditors suddenly announced an agreement. Lane signed off on Friday, formally dismissing the case and immediately lifting Giuliani’s bankruptcy protections.
It enables the two Georgia election workers, Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, to begin seizing Giuliani’s assets as they attempt to collect their $148 million judgment, though they are likely to recover far less than that. Giuliani disclosed $10.6 million in assets to the bankruptcy court.
They won it at a December jury trial over Giuliani’s baseless claims the duo committed mass election fraud in 2020. Giuliani froze the judgment — and other pending lawsuits against him — by quickly filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Under the terms of the agreement, Giuliani must put $100,000 in escrow, which his lawyers certified was already sent Tuesday. The remainder will be paid from selling either his New York apartment or his Florida condo, which make up the bulk of his assets.
Global Data Risk, the firm whose expenses Giuliani must pay, can force a sale in six months if he doesn’t take action.
The agreement came after Giuliani’s creditors complained to his bankruptcy judge that he wasn’t providing sufficient information about his assets, preventing an agreement on how to pay the expenses.
Lane repeatedly urged the parties to meet again to resolve the issue, but just last week, he acknowledged that there was “no resolution on the horizon.”
Giuliani’s creditors committee comprised Moss, one of the election workers; Dominion Voting Systems, an electronic voting machine company that also sued Giuliani following the 2020 election; and Noelle Dunphy, Giuliani’s former employee who sued him alleging sexual assault, harassment and nonpayment of wages.
Though dismissing the bankruptcy also unfreezes their cases against the former mayor and federal prosecutor, the lawsuits have not yet gone to trial, possibly leaving them with nothing to collect after the election workers’ efforts.
