Trump wormtongue Rudy Giuliani, ordered to pay $148m after defaming election workers and to do it immediately, is taking the obvious way out: he today declared bankruptcy. Giuliani has sought to hide his finances from view, and with this filing he can admit they’re in superficially bad shape while making it harder for anyone to get at whatever he has to lose.
“The filing should be a surprise to no one,” Giuliani political adviser Ted Goodman said Thursday. “No person could have reasonably believed that Mayor Rudy Giuliani would be able to pay such a high punitive amount. Chapter 11 will afford Mayor Giuliani the opportunity and time to pursue an appeal, while providing transparency for his finances under the supervision of the bankruptcy court, to ensure all creditors are treated equally and fairly throughout the process.”
It comes a day after the federal judge who oversaw the blockbuster defamation case said the two plaintiffs – Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss – can begin trying to collect from Giuliani immediately. US District Judge Beryl Howell said in her order Wednesday that Giuliani had escaped revealing his worth by refusing to turn over evidence he had in the case before trial, never acknowledged previous court orders for him to reimburse the women for his attorneys’ fee and repeatedly claimed he’s broke and the verdict would severely hurt him.
Conspiracy theoriest Alex Jones failed to use bankruptcy to shed his defamation-related debt. Giuliani is even less likely to get out of it, according to experts, because he admitted defaming his victims in hopes of avoiding the boot now squishing him.
