Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani talks to reporters while leaving his apartment building in New York on Aug. 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
The situation was already serious for former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani in his bankruptcy case after being ordered to pay $148 million for defaming Georgia election workers, and now his failure to comply with evidence requests in the Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss case is being used to justify a broad proposed order with evidence requests that could reveal the “nature of any legal services that you have performed, or continue to perform, for Donald J. Trump” and more. Lawyers for the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors filed a notice of a hearing for a motion to allow evidence requests to be served on Giuliani and third parties, including his companies, legal defense funds, and his son Andrew Giuliani,
as well as others. Maria RyanThe notice of the hearing, filed by attorney Philip Dublin of the firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, seeks to probe Giuliani’s “assets, liabilities, relevant prepetition conduct and financial position.”
The motion highlighted that Giuliani’s substantial defamation judgment came about after his failure to fulfill his evidence obligations, causing him to lose the case by default.
The attorneys expressed doubts about Giuliani’s willingness or ability to “fully comply with his disclosure obligations” in the resulting bankruptcy case set in the same jurisdictionwhere he gained fameas U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.
Giuliani’s mishandling of evidence in the Freeman Litigation, which involved defamatory statements about two Georgia 2020 election workers, led to a $148 million default judgment against him, the motion recalled. Because the same concerns about an uncooperative Giuliani persist, and with Giuliani facing at least nine additional pending litigations or outstanding judgments that could lead to potential damages of $4 billion, a more aggressive approach is necessary, the filing stated. “In the Chapter 11 Case, Giuliani has claimed to have about $10.6 million of assets, which is far less than almost $153 million in liabilities,” the motion said. “With such significant liabilities and pending lawsuits that seek upwards of $4 billion in damages, Giuliani may have strong motivation to continue his historical pattern of financial obfuscation and mishandling of evidence.”
Giuliani is facing lawsuits from Hunter Biden, Dominion Voting Systems, Smartmatic, and Noelle Dunphy, who used to work for Giuliani
and accused him of sexual assault in May last year
. Lawyers for those
parties had previously appeared in court and requested further investigation into the origin of the Rudy Giuliani Freedom Fund Legal Defense Trust Fund and Giuliani Defense. They want to know if these legal defense funds are connected to Giuliani’s companies and who the donors are.The motion also expressed concern about incomplete or inconsistent asset disclosures, including vague or inaccurate information about Giuliani's assets such as New York Yankees World Series rings and his Florida property address. The committee lawyers alleged that Giuliani and his lawyers are using delay tactics, and they are seeking relief to conduct their investigation and fulfill their duties, including by making Giuliani give a deposition..
The committee lawyers asked the bankruptcy judge to compel Giuliani and third parties to respond to requests and complete document productions within 21 days.
The requests included demands for documents and communications showing Giuliani’s earnings from media appearances, contracts related to his business dealings, and information on his legal representation of Trump and a defamation lawsuit against President Joe Biden.
Law&Crime contacted Giuliani’s adviser Ted Goodman before publishing the story to ask if Giuliani would oppose the motion. Goodman is one of the individuals that the committee lawyers want to depose and subpoena for documents.
Giuliani discloses lumped categories of assets such as “television etc…,” without sufficient itemization. Similarly, the values listed for certain categories—such as “Jewelry,” which includes among other items, a “diamond ring, 3 yankee world series rings,” and 26 luxury watches—are insufficiently itemized and appear to be undervalued. Giuliani claims a total value of $30,000 for this jewelry; yet a single World Series ring may be valued at upwards of $15,000 in its own right. Likewise, Giuliani vaguely discloses “Uber shares”—with no information as to present value, basis, location of those assets, or even the number of shares. Even the address of Giuliani’s Florida property is listed incorrectly.
Look at the papers
Requests for information in Rudy Giuliani's bankruptcy case want to investigate the "kind of legal work that you have done, or are still doing" for Trump.
The Committee is hereby authorized, pursuant to Rule 2004, to (a) serve document requests as specified below/subpoenas on, and (b) take depositions of, (i) Rudolph W. Giuliani; (ii) Giuliani Partners, LLC; (iii) Giuliani Communications, LLC; (iv) Giuliani Security & Safety, LLC; (v) Giuliani Group, LLC; (vi) Giuliani & Co.; (vii) Rudolph W. Giuliani PLLC; (viii) WorldCapital Payroll Corporation; (ix) Rudy Giuliani Freedom Fund Legal Defense Trust Fund; (x) Giuliani Defense; (xi) Robert Kiger; (xii) Andrew Giuliani; (xiii) Jake Menges; (xiv) Maria Ryan; (xv) Ryan Medrano; (xvi) Joseph Ricci; (xvii) Ted Goodman; (xviii) Michael Ragusa; and (xix) any other party the Committee identifies as possessing information relevant to its investigation into the Debtor’s assets, liabilities, relevant prepetition conduct and financial position.
Among the numerous requests were demands for documents and communications “sufficient to show” Giuliani’s yearly and monthly earnings from media appearances, including on cable TV and radio, from his podcasts Common Sense (distributed through YouTube, Rumble and Spike), Uncovering the Truth, and The Rudy Giuliani Show, and from his America’s Mayor Live streaming on Instagram, Facebook, Gettr, and YouTube.
Also sought were documents on any contracts “relating to business dealings, advertisements, endorsements or any other sources of income,” whether those contracts involve media outlets or Giuliani’s book “The Biden Crime Family: The Blueprint for Their Prosecution” ticketed for an April debut.
Perhaps most eye-popping of all, the proposed requests demand documents and communications that could shed light on Giuliani’s current or former legal representation of Trump, any claim for unpaid Trump legal fees, and Giuliani’s so far ill-fated “Russian pawn” defamation lawsuit against President Joe Biden:
12. All Documents and Communications concerning the bases, evidence and work product made in connection with any claims or causes of action that are asserted or assertable by You, including, but not limited to, (i) any claims for unpaid legal fees against Donald J. Trump, (ii) any defamation actions against Joseph R. Biden (iii) any unliquidated and/or contingent claims and causes of action listed in Your Schedules and Statements, and (ii) counterclaims that have been or may be asserted in connection with any pending litigation against You, including, without limitation, the Freeman Litigation, the Biden Litigation, the Dunphy Litigation or the Dominion Litigation.
13. Documents and Communications sufficient to identify the nature of any legal services that you have performed, or continue to perform, for Donald J. Trump.
Law&Crime reached out to Giuliani’s adviser Ted Goodman prior to this story’s publication to ask if Giuliani would oppose the motion. Goodman is one of the individuals that the committee lawyers seek to depose and subpoena for documents.
Read the documents here.