Rudy Giuliani warned by judge at chaotic bankruptcy hearing
NEW YORK — Rudy Giuliani was warned by a judge to keep his mouth shut Wednesday after the ex-mayor interrupted an opposing lawyer at his chaotic bankruptcy hearing.
Judge Sean Lane threatened to push the mute button after Giuliani angrily erupted on speaker phone to yell at a lawyer for two Atlanta election workers who won a $148 million defamation judgement against him over his campaign of lies.
“Everybody gets a chance to be heard but you cannot interrupt someone else while they’re being heard,” the judge chided Giuliani.
The judge told lawyers for Giuliani and his creditors, including election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, that he may decide as soon as Friday to pull the plug on Giuliani’s entire bankruptcy case.
He cited a lack of “transparency” from the onetime personal lawyer for former President Donald Trump.
“I’m leaning towards dismissal, frankly, because I’m concerned that the past is prologue and that issues about transparency will continue,” said Lane, a bankruptcy judge in Manhattan federal court.
If the judge dismisses the bankruptcy case, Freeman and Moss could seek to immediately seize Giuliani’s assets, including his multi-million dollar homes in Manhattan and Florida.
Giuliani’s lawyer told the judge he does not object to dismissing the case, even though it was Giuliani himself who filed for bankruptcy protection last December after a jury socked him with the massive judgment.
Without elaborating, he said Giuliani would have a better chance of upending the judgment on appeal if the bankruptcy case were dismissed.
Rachel Strickland, a lawyer for the two election workers, said they agree with dismissing the case because they fear Giuliani is using the bankruptcy proceedings to “push pause” on his financial woes without making any changes to his lavish lifestyle.
She argued against an alternate plan to appoint a trustee to manage Giuliani’s financial affairs, suggesting he would try to funnel cash and assets to entities outside the reach of creditors.
“If the case is dismissed, creditors will be able to hold America’s mayor accountable for the harms he’s caused,” she said.
Giuliani owns an opulent co-op on Manhattan’s upper East Side that is on the market for $5.7 million and a condo in Palm Beach, Florida.
Giuliani was found liable for engineering a disinformation campaign that accused Freeman and Moss of rigging votes for President Joe Biden during ballot-counting in the Democratic stronghold of Fulton County.
Biden narrowly won Georgia but Trump and Giuliani falsely claim the win was tainted by widespread fraud.
