Cash-Strapped Rudy Giuliani Is Relying on Two Defense Funds to Pay Bankruptcy Lawyers As Questions Remain About How He’ll Cover $148M Judgment to Former Georgia Poll Workers
A new court filing details how Rudy Giuliani is paying his bankruptcy attorneys using money from two defense funds.
Those third-party legal funds paid Berger, Fischoff, Shumer, Wexler & Goodman, LLP a $70,000 retainer fee, according to an amended bankruptcy motion filed by the firm this week. The Giuliani Freedom Fund Legal Defense T.R. paid $40,000, and $30,000 came from Giuliani Defense, a fund run by his son Andrew.
That court filing also states that Giuliani has agreed to pay between $585 and $675 per hour to the firm’s partners, $425 to $510 for associate lawyers, and $210 per hour to paralegals.
Giuliani still plans to appeal the $148 million penalty he owes ex-poll workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss for defaming them. The multi-million-dollar judgment has raised questions about how the former New York mayor will satisfy the payment.
Freeman and Moss have asked for transparency on that front, noting the secrecy surrounding his defense funds and how they are being backed.
“Given the totality of the circumstances — including that Mr. Giuliani’s son is President of Giuliani Defense — it is essential to obtain clarity on how the Legal Defense Funds were themselves funded,” a February filing from Freeman’s and Moss’ attorneys states.
In a hearing last month, Giuliani’s bankruptcy lawyers stated that Giuliani has not contributed to either fund. One of the funds has received “hundreds” of donations, most of which are under $100, one court document stated. Still, a judge ordered Giuliani’s attorneys to provide more detail and clarity on the source of the money and how he is paying his legal team.
The former Trump attorney filed for bankruptcy a day after a jury announced the $148 million award in Freeman’s and Moss’ defamation case. In bankruptcy filings from last month, his attorneys wrote that his net income is only $2,308 per month.
Giuliani also claimed that he is still waiting for Donald Trump to pay his unpaid legal fees. He said he “never got a salary” while working as Trump’s attorney and estimated the former president owes him $2 million in legal fees.
Giuliani is also still wading through some other legal straits. He faces unsettled debts owed to his former attorneys. One of those former lawyers, Robert Costello, claims Giuliani owes him $1.36 million in unpaid legal fees. Hunter Biden has also sued Giuliani for allegedly violating his privacy after accessing data from his private laptop.