Ex-NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani files for bankruptcy

NEW YORK: Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump´s former personal lawyer, filed for bankruptcy on Thursday, less than a week after being ordered to pay $148 million in damages for defaming two Georgia poll workers.

The former mayor of New York, in a bankruptcy petition seeking protection from his creditors, listed assets of between $1 million and $10 million and liabilities of up to $500 million.

The largest of his debts is the $148 million a federal jury in Washington ordered him to pay on December 15 to Ruby Freeman and her daughter Wandrea “Shaye” Moss for repeatedly making false claims that they engaged in 2020 election fraud.

The Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition filed with a New York bankruptcy court also listed debts ranging from the hundreds of thousands to the millions of dollars to the Internal Revenue Service, New York tax authorities and his former lawyers and accountants.

“Unknown” amounts were also recorded as being owed to Hunter Biden, former president Joe Biden´s son, and the voting machine companies Dominion and Smartmatic. Hunter Biden, Dominion and Smartmatic have all filed lawsuits against Giuliani. They are ongoing.

The 79-year-old Giuliani was found liable in August by US District Judge Beryl Howell of defaming Freeman and Moss, both Fulton County poll workers, with his 2020 election lies on behalf of former president Trump.

An eight-person federal jury awarded Freeman and Moss more than $16 million each for defamation, $20 million each for emotional distress and $75 million in punitive damages.