Rudy Giuliani drains half of bank account for personal expenses while creditors pursue what he owes them
By Katelyn Polantz, CNN
(CNN) — Rudy Giuliani has drained roughly half of the money in a personal bank account in the last week to pay for personal expenses, a court proceeding revealed Wednesday, as he attends the Republican National Convention while being hounded from afar by people to whom he owes millions.
The numbers are being publicly revealed now because Giuliani owes around $350,000 to a forensic accountant who worked on tracing his assets during the bankruptcy, and a federal judge is following up, with growing frustration, on how to get that bill paid.
Giuliani only appears to have a portion of that amount in his personal bank account, which keeps being depleted to pay other bills, Wednesday’s federal court proceedings in White Plains, New York, revealed.
Giuliani has been slow to disclose what cash he has on hand in liquid accounts, and hasn’t been fully transparent, the judge has found.
Rachel Strickland, a lawyer for two 2020 election workers from Georgia to whom Giuliani owes nearly $150 million, said in court Wednesday that the former New York City mayor is “up to Giuliani shenanigans yet again.”
She told the judge Wednesday afternoon Giuliani’s lawyers had provided new information about one personal bank account, where he had $60,000 a week ago. But in the last few days, the account went to “half that much,” Strickland said.
She noted a $14,000 check cashed for his New York condo expenses and $25,000 in fees paid related to another condo he owns in Florida. She also said his account showed a wire transfer to a condo association two days ago, small charges for Amazon and Apple, and expenses related to his travels this week to Milwaukee, where the Republican National Convention is taking place.
Last Friday, Giuliani’s bankruptcy protection ended, and creditors such as the 2020 election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss are now able to pursue his $10 million net worth.
Giuliani’s wealth is primarily in two pieces of real estate he owns, the New York co-op apartment and the condominium in Palm Beach, Florida. While Moss, Freeman and others will be able to try to seize the properties and other personal assets he has, like baseball memorabilia, the bankruptcy judge can still focus on having Giuliani pay for professional services related to the bankruptcy.
Frustrated judge warns of ‘bad things’ for Giuliani
Judge Sean Lane, who is presiding over Giuliani’s bankruptcy case, held two hearings on Wednesday to push for a way to get the bankruptcy administrative bills paid.
His frustration growing with Giuliani’s lack of answers, Lane threatened to force Giuliani to come to his courtroom and potentially testify.
Throughout the bankruptcy proceeding, Giuliani has only called in to listen over a phone line, while his lawyers are often in Lane’s courtroom in person.
Lane told Giuliani’s lawyers on Wednesday he may consider “requiring your client to come and sit in this witness box … Does your client want to do that?”
Yet Lane said he would wait to decide what to do in a day or so. He told Giuliani’s lawyers they had until Thursday at “high noon; that’s appropriately theatrical” to notify the court of a plan for Giuliani to resolve his bills.
“If your client persists in this course of action, there are a lot of bad things that can happen,” Lane told Giuliani’s attorneys on Wednesday. “There are a lot of things your client doesn’t want to happen that will happen. None of this is a surprise.”
“This isn’t complicated nor is it unexpected nor is it unusual. I’m really at a loss. I strongly, strongly urge you and your client to sit down and figure out what you really want the endgame to look like,” the judge added.
Giuliani flies first class to Milwaukee
Giuliani’s bankruptcy attorneys, Heath Berger and Gary Fischoff, said during the court hearing they sometimes had difficulty reaching Giuliani and needed time.
Giuliani is currently in Milwaukee, attending the GOP convention, where his former client Donald Trump will formally accept the party’s presidential nomination on Thursday.
He flew there on Sunday, with a first-class seat on a Delta flight from New York’s LaGuardia Airport, accompanied by a personal assistant whose plane tickets he has paid for regularly.
On Tuesday, he told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on the floor of the convention hall he had “no regrets at all,” acknowledged that Freeman and Moss were trying to seize everything he owned, and compared his bleak situation in the court system to the suffering of Japanese Americans in internment camps during World War II.
He later tripped, falling across folding chairs to the convention floor.
His assistant Ted Goodman said in a statement Wednesday that Giuliani “tripped over a dip in the walkway” because he was filming video at the same time. Goodman noted Giuliani’s “jam-packed schedule, collecting video footage and talking with reporters” and his wish to support his “friend” Trump.
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