A New York federal bankruptcy judge on Friday dismissed the Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection case of Rudy Giuliani, immediately exposing the former Trump lawyer to his creditors seeking repayments of his massive debts in other court venues.
Those creditors include two Georgia election workers, to whom Giuliani owes $148 million in civil damages for defamation. A federal jury ruled that the former New York City mayor made defamatory remarks against the two election workers when he sought to overturn the loss of then-President Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election.
In his ruling dismissing Giuliani’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection case, Judge Sean Lane of the Southern District of New York wrote that he “finds that dismissal of this bankruptcy case with a one year bar to refiling is in the best interests of creditors.”
Lane in his ruling scathingly described Giuliani’s conduct in the case, writing, “The record in this case
reflects Mr. Giuliani’s continued failure to meet his reporting obligations and provide the financial transparency required of a debtor in possession.”
“Most significantly, none of Mr. Giuliani’s business entities have made any production [of required information] at all despite being required to do so,” the judge wrote.
“Nor has Mr. Giuliani or his entities identified any legitimate reason why the requested information should not or cannot be produced,” he added. “This failure to provide even basic disclosure about these assets is sufficient in and of itself for a finding of cause.”
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