Rudy
Giuliani
is
no
longer
bankrupt.
Now
he’s
just
broke.
This
afternoon,
US
Bankruptcy
Judge
Sean
Lane
signed
an
order
dismissing
the
bankruptcy,
which
was
filed
about
ten
seconds
after
Giuliani
was
hit
with
a
$148
million
defamation
verdict.
The
jury
made
Ruby
Freeman
and
Shaye
Moss,
the
Atlanta
poll
workers
falsely
accused
of
ballot
fraud,
Giuliani’s
largest
creditors,
and
this
entire
exercise
has
always
been
about
their
claim.
Rudy
appeared
to
think
that
the
bankruptcy
would
redound
only
to
his
benefit.
He
could
stay
collections
on
the
verdict
without
having
to
post
a
supersedeas
bond,
while
simultaneously
pursuing
his
appeal.
And
so
it
came
as
a
nasty
surprise
when
Judge
Lane
refused
to
lift
the
stay
on
the
civil
proceedings
to
allow
Giuliani
to
explain
to
the
DC
Circuit
all
the
ways
he’d
been
wronged
by
Judge
Beryl
Howell.
Indeed,
Rudy
seemed
to
find
the
bankruptcy
process
shocking
in
several
respects.
Who
knew
there’d
be
so
much
paperwork
involved
in
sloughing
off
your
creditors!
As
Judge
Lane
noted
in
his
order,
the
debtor
“has
not
fully
met
his
obligation
to
file
certain
schedules
and
lists
detailing
his
financial
condition,
including
a
list
of
creditors,
a
schedule
of
assets
and
liabilities,
a
statement
of
current
income
and
current
expenditures,
and
a
statement
of
financial
affairs.”
He
failed
to
file
monthly
operating
reports
in
a
timely
fashion,
and
the
reports
contain
obvious
errors
and
omissions.
Such
as
an
account
which
purportedly
ended
February
with
a
balance
of
$57,856
and
started
off
March
with
$52,947. Did
he
think
no
one
would
notice?
He
funneled
his
earnings
through
LLCs,
while
ignoring
subpoenas
for
information
about
his
companies,
refusing
to
make
“any
production
at
all
despite
being
required
to
do
so
by
the
Rule
2004
Order.”
At
the
same
time
he
entered
into
undisclosed
book
and
endorsement
deals. Rudy
Coffee,
anyone?
“The
lack
of
financial
transparency
is
particularly
troubling
given
concerns
that
Mr.
Giuliani
has
engaged
in
self-dealing
and
that
he
has
potential
conflicts
of
interest
that
would
hamper
the
administration
of
his
bankruptcy
case,”
Judge
Lane
wrote.
And
Rudy
won’t
—
or
possibly
can’t
—
find
an
accountant
willing
to
work
for
him,
a
fact
the
court
called
“highly
unusual
and
troubling
given
that
the
bankruptcy
case
has
been
pending
for
more
than
six
months.”
Facing
motions
for
sanctions
and
the
appointment
of
a
trustee,
and
finding
his
original
purpose
thwarted,
Giuliani
moved
on
July
1
to
convert
the
Chapter
11
reorganization
petition
to
a
Chapter
7
liquidation.
Here,
as
in
the
Alex
Jones
bankruptcy,
the
debtor’s
antics
served
to
pit
the
creditors
against
each
other.
With
a
judgment
in
hand,
Freeman
and
Moss
countered
that
the
case
should
be
dismissed.
The
other
creditors,
including
Dominion
Voting
Systems
and
Noelle
Dunphy,
a
former
employee
who
sued
Giuliani
for
sexual
assault
and
various
labor
torts,
disagreed.
They
wanted
the
case
to
stay
in
Chapter
11
under
the
supervision
of
a
trustee.
But
at
a
hearing
on
Wednesday,
Freeman
and
Moss’s
lawyer
argued
persuasively
that
staying
bankruptcy
would
not
lead
to
an
equitable
distribution
of
assets,
but
rather
the
dissipation
of
the
entire
estate
to
satisfy
administrative
fees.
Indeed,
quite
apart
from
paying
lawyers,
a
forensic
accountant
has
already
racked
up
$400,000
trying
to
track
down
Rudy’s
assets.
Noting
that
“past
is
prologue,”
the
court
saw
“little
reason
to
conclude
that
the
Mr.
Giuliani’s
uncooperative
conduct
will
change
after
the
appointment
of
a
Chapter
11
trustee”
and
anticipated
that
a
“continued
lack
of
financial
transparency
would
severely
hamper
the
administration
of
this
case
by
a
Chapter
11
trustee,
who
would
be
required
to
incur
extensive
expense
to
seek
compliance
from
this
recalcitrant
debtor.”
“[T]here
is
a
real
prospect
of
unsecured
creditors
receiving
little
to
nothing
in
bankruptcy
notwithstanding
a
lengthy
delay
during
which
they
are
prevented
from
pursuing
their
rights,”
the
court
wrote,
noting
that
Dunphy
and
Dominion
would
likely
get
nothing
even
if
they
got
their
Chapter
11
Trustee.
And
so
Judge
Lopez
dismissed
the
case.
Rudy
now
shambles
out
of
bankruptcy
after
seven
months,
having
wasted
millions
of
dollars
of
professional
fees
and
gotten
himself
no
closer
to
overturning
the
$148
million
verdict.
Let’s
assume
that
he’s
celebrating
with
a
well-earned
scotch.
And
the
Freeman
plaintiffs
are
celebrating
with
a
well-earned
writ
of
garnishment.
Drink
up!
Giuliani
Bankruptcy
Docket [Via
Court
Listener]
Liz
Dye lives
in
Baltimore
where
she
produces
the
Law
and
Chaos substack and podcast.