Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy just one day after a federal judge allowed two election workers he defamed to attempt to immediately enforce a $146 million judgment. Giuliani filed the 24-page petition in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, citing debts which prominently feature the $148 million defamation judgment a federal jury awarded to Georgia election workers Wandrea “Shaye” Moss and Ruby Freeman.
In addition to the Moss and Freeman case, Giuliani lists several other lawsuits filed against him as potential future debts, including those filed by the president’s son Hunter Biden, his former employee Noelle Dunphy, and voting machine companies Smartmatic and Dominion.
These lawsuits, along with one filed by Dominion’s staffer Eric Coomer, remain pending, and damages have not yet been awarded.
Giuliani had previously insisted that he had no intention of settling the defamation case raised by Moss and Freeman, calling the lawsuit “false and defamatory.” However, it seems that the mounting legal fees and potential fallout from other pending lawsuits may have driven him to seek bankruptcy protection.
The chapter 11 filing will allow Giuliani to reorganize his finances while shielding him from personal liability for his debts, giving him the opportunity to restructure his finances and potentially emerge from bankruptcy in a stronger position.
It remains to be seen how the various lawsuits against Giuliani will play out in light of his bankruptcy filing, but it seems clear that he is facing mounting legal and financial challenges as a result of his actions surrounding the 2020 election.