Judge approves deal to end Rudy Giuliani bankruptcy case

A New York bankruptcy judge on Friday approved a settlement that would reject Rudy Giuliani’s attempt to secure bankruptcy protections, putting two former election officials he repeatedly defamed after the 2020 race closer to receiving the U.S. verdict. $146 million against him.

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Sean Lane of the Southern District of New York had initially ruled last month that he would dismiss Giuliani’s case, but said last week that he might have to reconsider doing so because of the failure of the former mayor of New York to pay about US$400,000 in administrative and accounting expenses in the case.

Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer reached a agreement with his creditors last week to pay $100,000 of those expenses now, with the rest of the money to be paid when he sells one of his homes in New York or Florida. If this does not happen within the next six months, steps can be taken to collect the remaining money, according to the agreement.

The judge signed the agreement 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 officially dismissed. The ruling also prohibits Giuliani from filing for bankruptcy again for a period of one year. The bankruptcy filing allowed Giuliani to obtain protection of creditors under the “automatic stay” feature of federal bankruptcy lawwhich, with some exceptions, interrupts ongoing litigation as well as the enforcement of pre-existing decisions.

Giuliani sought bankruptcy protection just days after he was hit with a $148 million defamation verdict in December for his repeated false claims that then-Georgia election officials Ruby Freeman and her daughter Wandrea “Shaye” Moss had involved in electoral fraud. A judge later reduced the award by $2 million.

Lane said in July that he would end the bankruptcy process, citing the fact that Giuliani had failed to provide virtually all necessary information about his businesses while also providing incomplete or incorrect information about his personal spending.

“The lack of financial transparency is particularly concerning,” Lane wrote last month.

A spokesman for Giuliani said at the time that Giuliani wanted the case dismissed because it prevented him from appealing Freeman’s verdict and subjected him to “voluminous and overly broad discovery requests.”

The spokesman, Ted Goodman, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday night, nor did attorneys for Freeman and Moss.

When Lane first said last month that he was dropping the case, Freeman and Moss’ lawyer, Rachel Strickland, said that Giuliani had filed his bankruptcy petition “in bad faith” and that the dismissal would mean that the mother and the daughter “can begin to exercise her judgment and make decisions.” Rudy pays for his malicious lies.”