Despite his bankruptcy, Rudy Giuliani appears to be spending lavishly on a series of unlikely to succeed legal actions. As information from Above The Law reveals, he continues to contest the underlying amounts he owes and may owe in every way possible, perhaps most notably by appealing against the hefty $148 million defamation judgment awarded to two Georgia election workers he defamed.
Newsweek reports that not only is Giuliani asking for a new trial in the defamtion case, a common initial step for launching an appeal, but he is also facing suits from a multitude of entities, including Smartmatic and Dominion, over what has been widely discredited assertions regarding their voting machines. Additionally, he must contend with a lawsuit levelled by his previous lawyer over $1.36 million in unpaid legal fees, a $10 million suit from a former employee alleging sexual abuse and unpaid wages, plus at least half a dozen other impending legal actions, some of which are criminal in nature.
Curiously, Giuliani’s lawyers in his bankruptcy case have sought to lift the stay that was automatically put into effect as a result of filing for bankruptcy — a protocol which generally pauses pending collection efforts and certain types of civil litigation against the person declared bankrupt. It seems they aim to have some of these other cases dismissed, a move which is puzzling in a couple of ways.
First, delay would seem to be beneficial in this situation, yet Giuliani is investing in lawyers to hasten the progress of some cases, potentially accelerating his own downfall. Secondly, a motion to dismiss is notoriously difficult to secure; the court has to accept every claim in the complaint as true and make all reasonable inferences in favor of the nonmoving party. Based on what is in the public record, Giuliani’s chances of success with any of his proposed motion to dismiss are tenuous at best.
Perhaps most baffling, however, is how Giuliani is funding all this peculiar and likely self-destructive legal wrangling. A question that creditors too are seeking answers for. Interestingly, two somewhat dubious third-party legal funds seem to be covering the legal bills for three law firms. The origin of these funds’ capital is a riddle that creditors are keen to solve during the bankruptcy proceedings.
In conclusion, the financial maneuvers around Rudy Giuliani’s fiscal woes and legal predicaments are raising questions that legal professionals, and his creditors, want answered. The question remains — despite bankruptcy, how exactly is Giuliani facilitating this elaborate and seemingly counterproductive legal tangle..