AP Photo/Matt Rourke
- A judge imposed liens on Rudy Giuliani's apartments while dismissing his bankruptcy case.
- Proceeds toward the sales of his Florida or Manhattan apartment will go to his creditors' bills.
- Now creditors can pursue their other lawsuits, including a sexual harassment and defamation claim.
The judge overseeing Rudy Giuliani's bankruptcy formally dismissed the case Friday — but put a lien on the former mayor's properties to make sure he pays all his legal bills.
US Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane already said in July that he would dismiss the case, expressing frustration in a "lack of financial transparency" on Giuliani's behalf.
But before the judge could finalize the dismissal, the parties in the case needed to figure out how to pay a $400,000 bill to Global Data Risk, a company hired by Giuliani's creditors to help understand his finances.
Giuliani and his creditors came to a deal earlier this week with a jointly proposed draft order, which Lane largely adopted with his Friday order.
The disgraced attorney must now pay $100,000 into an account that will pay Global Data Risk. The company has also been granted liens on Giuliani's Florida apartment and the co-op shares for his Manhattan apartment.
The Manhattan apartment is for sale with an asking price of about $5.7 million, while the Florida apartment has been valued at about $3.5 million. Friday's order requires the proceeds from whichever apartment sells first to go toward the balance of Global Data Risk's bill.
Giuliani sought bankruptcy protection in December, claiming he couldn't satisfy his $152 million in debt.
Nearly all of that came from a $148 million defamation judgment after he falsely accused two Georgia election workers of rigging the state's results in 2020.
With the bankruptcy case dismissed, lawyers for the election workers can now try to get the judgment enforced and seize Giuliani's assets. But the dismissal also allows Giuliani to appeal the defamation case to try to get it tossed or the damages reduced.
The bankruptcy dismissal also allows other creditors to pursue separate lawsuits against Giuliani, including a defamation lawsuit from Dominion Voting Systems and a sexual harassment claim from former employer Noelle Dunphy.