Giuliani Financial Probe Sought by Poll Workers, Other Creditors

Rudolph Giuliani’s creditors asked a bankruptcy court to permit them to formally investigate the former New York City mayor’s finances and business dealings.

A court order is necessary to force Giuliani’s cooperation with efforts to fully understand his financial affairs, which could lead to legal claims, a committee representing his creditors told the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York in a filing Thursday evening. The committee accused Giuliani of an extensive history of “obfuscation and noncompliance.”

The Trump adviser was forced to file for bankruptcy in December after being hit with a $148 million judgment for falsely accusing two Georgia poll workers of committing fraud.

“Substantial concern exists as to Giuliani’s efforts to dissipate and conceal estate assets,” the committee told the judge overseeing the former mayor’s Chapter 11 case. “Unfortunately, the committee’s experience thus far with the debtor in this case has been more of the same.”

If granted, the motion would give Giuliani’s creditors the right to compel the turnover of documents relating to the structure of his personally-owned businesses and probe the sources of legal funds that have raised money for his defense in several recent lawsuits and criminal proceedings.

The committee is also interested in uncovering arrangements that Giuliani had with Donald Trump for providing legal services during Trump’s presidency. The investigation could force the filing of a lawsuit against Trump by Giuliani’s bankruptcy estate, sources familiar with the matter previously told Bloomberg Law.

Giuliani, who filed for bankruptcy with $10.6 million in assets against $153 million in liabilities, told creditors last month that he’s still owed about $2 million for work he did on Trump’s behalf to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

Giuliani’s campaign to cast doubt on the 2020 election results led to the suspension of his legal license and multiple high-profile defamation suits, including ones brought by voting machine companies US Dominion Inc. and Smartmatic.

The committee, which includes Dominion and one of the Georgia plaintiffs, said in the filing Thursday that Giuliani has already shown an unwillingness to cooperate with discovery demands in his pre-bankruptcy suits. And thus far in his Chapter 11 case, Giuliani and his legal team have failed to provide timely and satisfactory responses to information requests, the creditors said.

“Given the magnitude of these liabilities—and considering the pending lawsuits against Giuliani and his businesses seek upwards of $4 billion in damages—Giuliani has substantial motivation to continue his historical pattern of financial obfuscation and discovery misconduct,” the committee said.

A lawyer for Giuliani didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The committee is represented by Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP.

Giuliani is represented by Berger Fischoff Shumer Wexler & Goodman LLP.

The case is In re Rudolph W. Giuliani, Bankr. S.D.N.Y., No. 23-12055, motion filed 3/7/24.