A federal bankruptcy court judge tossed Rudy Giuliani's Chapter 11 bankruptcy case, paving the way for two Georgia election workers Giuliani defamed to collect their $148 million judgment against him. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane wrote that dropping the case and putting a one-year ban on refiling is “in the best interest of creditors.” Lane panned Giuliani for his “troubling” trend of submitting incomplete financial reports to the court, reports Courthouse News Service. “The lack of financial transparency is particularly troubling given concerns that Mr. Giuliani has engaged in self-dealing and that he has potential conflicts of interest that would hamper the administration of his bankruptcy case,” Lane said. The judge said that getting an accurate peek into Giuliani’s finances has proven to be an “elusive goal” throughout the six-month proceedings.
“The debtor has not even retained an accountant, which is the most rudimentary of steps,” Lane wrote. The ruling will allow Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, the mother-daughter pair of Georgia election workers who won a defamation suit against Giuliani last year, to pursue that award. The bankruptcy previously kept the duo from collecting the judgment and froze other lawsuits Giuliani faces. Those proceedings can be resumed now. A federal judge in Washington D.C. ruled that Giuliani falsely accused them of mishandling ballots to steal the 2020 election for President Biden, claims parroted by his longtime ally and former client Donald Trump.
Giuliani was ordered to pay the $148 million to Freeman and Moss, who said they were subjected to a relentless wave of hateful, violent and racist harassment by Trump supporters. The former New York City mayor filed for bankruptcy in late 2023, citing nearly $153 million in liabilities that included the trial judgment, unpaid taxes and legal fees.
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