Ex without money New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani spent about $30,000 in the single week since a judge dismissed his bankruptcy case.
Wednesday afternoon’s hearing revolved around the terms of the resignation by Giuliani Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Casethat a Judge Sean Lane ordered on Friday, July 12th.
Giuliani’s lawyers and his bankruptcy creditors were trying to figure out how the former mayor would pay administrative fees incurred over the course of the case — but the terms depended on how much Giuliani had in his bank.
Giuliani’s bank statements from just one account revealed that he spent about half of the $60,000 he had since the last hearing on July 10.
“About half of the debtor’s money in this account alone has been dissipated” since last Wednesday’s bankruptcy hearing, Rachel Strickland, an attorney for the maligned election workers, told the court after reading the statement.
The former mayor spent an unknown amount of money at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee – where he was seen falling — but most of it went toward expenses for their two homes, Strickland said.
A $14,000 check for condominium expenses in New York and a $25,000 wire transfer to the Florida condominium association have been sent since the July 10 hearing, Strickland said. There were also a number of “relatively small charges” for marketing companies, as well as Amazon and Apple, she said. The exact amount spent on other expenses is not immediately clear.
“I think the debtor is up to Giuliani’s shenanigans once again,” the lawyer continued. She also told the court that she had requested statements from all of her bank accounts. This account is her “main current account”, one of her lawyers explained to the court.
The amount in the accounts was a crucial point in the hearing, as Strickland had proposed that the dismissal order force Giuliani to pay the amount in his accounts to cover administrative expenses.
“The debtor’s lawyer said he doesn’t have that much money. So we weren’t discussing the concept of getting blood from a stone,” Strickland said.
“Instead, we proposed that we look at his bank accounts, those that are owned by the estate as of July 11th… Whatever it is in cash, it must come out immediately,” she argued.
At the beginning of the hearing, the judge asked Strickland what she understood to be the value of Giuliani’s bank account.
“I have no understanding why this is not a remotely available debtor,” Strickland said. She then asked that Giuliani’s financial records from the date of his firing be used to pay administrative fees because “bank statements don’t lie.”
Creditors “want to strip the debtor of all liquid assets in exchange for the available cash the debtor needs to operate in the future,” said Gary Fischoff, Giuliani’s lawyer.
“Your client has the key,” Judge Lane said. “I don’t want to hear that it’s hard to get in touch with him, I don’t want to hear that any of this is a surprise. People have been trying to get the same information for many months.”
“It’s the same song over and over again,” the judge said in frustration in terms of Giuliani’s lack of transparency regarding his assets. “Even a dismissal, which your client wants, you can’t get out of your own way.”
The judge then told Giuliani’s lawyers: “I strongly urge you and your client to sit down and figure out what you really want the end game to be like here.”
Judge Lane said he is a “patient man” and tried to be “reasonable” but threatened: “There are ways of doing this which include requiring your client to come in and sit in that box over there and discuss the available liquid assets that can be used to pay these professionals. So, does your client want to do this?
At the end of a hearing that lasted an hour and a half, Judge Lane said that the fact that “no one has thought about what the next steps will be is frankly unbelievable and exceptionally unhelpful”.
He then instructed the former mayor’s lawyers to update the other lawyers before 11 a.m. Thursday. Then, at “appropriately theatrical noon,” he asked for an update to be filed on the docket and would then make a decision on the request.
Complaints about Giuliani’s lack of transparency are not new in the seven-month bankruptcy process.
The judge wrote in a scathing document that the court record “reflects Mr. Giuliani’s continued failure to meet his reporting obligations and provide the financial transparency required of a debtor in possession.”
The judge added: “The lack of financial transparency is particularly concerning given concerns that Mr. Giuliani has engaged in self-dealing and that he has potential conflicts of interest that would make it difficult to manage his bankruptcy case.”
After Strickland proposed an order, Fischoff called the proposed terms “onerous, punitive and exaggerated” in a July 15 statement. Letter for Judge Lane. Lenders “want it both ways,” Fischoff wrote. “They want the case dropped while also exerting complete control over” Giuliani.
Following the objection, Giuliani’s legal team met with Strickland, who came to the conclusion: “We are even more concerned that Mr. Giuliani has more shenanigans up his sleeve.”
So, she presented a counterproposal that takes into account the fact that her Manhattan Condominium “does not appear close to being sold, despite having been on and off the market over the past year” and that Giuliani “seems interested in avoiding paying the freight he incurred by filing a voluntary bankruptcy petition.”
At Wednesday’s hearing, Fischoff said the Upper East Side Condominium it is “being actively marketed,” adding that Sotheby’s and Giuliani may have to consider a “price reduction” on the unit. The price of housing in Manhattan has already been reduced significantly since it was first put on the market almost a year ago.
