Rudy Giuliani’s Financial Troubles Are Adding Up As Legal Costs Mount—Here’s What We Know

Topline

Attorney Rudy Giuliani went to Mar-A-Lago in April to ask former President Donald Trump to pay for his ballooning legal bills, CNN reported late Wednesday, the latest in a string of recent reports and admissions in court filings regarding the Trump attorney’s financial issues as Giuliani comes under mounting legal scrutiny for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

Rudy Giuliani talks to members of the press before he leaves the U.S. District Court on May 19 in … [+] Washington, D.C.

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Key Facts

Giuliani has faced a series of legal repercussions for his efforts to overturn the 2020 vote count, and had his electronics seized by federal investigators for a separate (now closed) probe in April 2021, which the attorney has said in court filings resulted in him having to pay high fees to the vendor, Trustpoint, that’s hosting his data from the seized devices.

Giuliani and his attorney Robert Costello traveled to Mar-A-Lago “to make a personal and desperate appeal” for Trump to pay Giuliani’s legal bills, CNN reported citing anonymous sources, adding Trump reportedly “didn’t seem very interested” in paying the fees but made a “verbal agreement” to pay some costs, and his PAC ultimately paid $340,000 to cover some of Giuliani’s Trustpoint fees.

The attorney has been ordered to pay more than $89,000 in attorneys fees in a defamation case brought against him by two Georgia election workers, which he failed to pay in July as required, and Giuliani’s attorney said in an August court filing “[Giuliani]

His financial problems have also been an issue in voting company Smartmatic’s defamation case against him, with the company alleging Giuliani hasn’t turned over any evidence as part of the case, to which Giuliani’s attorneys argued on Monday he has “limited financial resources” and that Trustpoint is still asking for between $15,000 and $23,000 to help turn over the evidence required, which is “money that Mr. Giuliani cannot afford to pay at this point.”

Beyond his election-related legal woes, the former New York City mayor has also put his Upper East Side apartment on the market for $6.5 million, his consulting firm Giuliani Partners LLC defaulted on a debt for a phone bill and was ordered to pay $57,655 in late July, and Giuliani was held in contempt last year for failing to make payments to his ex-wife.

Giuliani’s political advisor Ted Goodman, his attorney Adam Katz and Costello have not yet responded to requests for comment, but the attorney has maintained his innocence in the ongoing legal proceedings against him and criticized his indictment in Georgia as an “affront to American democracy.”

Crucial Quote

“These are a lot of bills that he’s not paying,” Katz said at a Wednesday hearing in the Smartmatic case, as quoted by CNN. “I think this is very humbling for Mr. Giuliani.”

Surprising Fact

While Giuliani led the Trump campaign’s ultimately unsuccessful legal efforts following the 2020 election, campaign records suggest Trump did not actually pay Giuliani for his work beyond travel reimbursements.

What To Watch For

Giuliani has been indicted on 13 counts in Fulton County, Georgia, for his role in helping to try and overturn the election results, one of 19 total defendants who were charged in the case, including Trump. The attorney and the other co-defendants have until August 25 to turn themselves in. Giuliani has also been identified as a “co-conspirator” in the Justice Department’s separate investigation into the election’s aftermath, but he has not been formally charged in that case—though prosecutors have not ruled out that additional charges could be brought.

What We Don’t Know

If Giuliani could “flip” on Trump. Sources in Trump’s “inner circle” told CNN they were “surprised” by Trump’s unwillingness to pay his ex-attorney’s legal bills, given the possibility that Giuliani could decide to cooperate with prosecutors in their case against Trump in order to save himself. Trump refusing to pay Giuliani’s fees is “not a smart idea,” one source told the outlet.

Key Background

Giuliani served as Trump’s personal attorney before spearheading the ex-president’s post-election legal campaign, which ultimately was unsuccessful and only resulted in one minor win. The attorney only directly represented Trump in court in one case in Pennsylvania—which failed—and was also involved in other efforts to overturn the results that prosecutors have now alleged were illegal, such as pressuring state legislators to reject their states’ results. Trump cut ties with Giuliani in mid-February 2021 as the lawyer began to face legal repercussions for his post-election efforts, with Trump advisor Jason Miller saying at the time that Giuliani was “not currently” representing Trump “in any legal matters.” Giuliani has also had his law license suspended in New York and Washington, D.C., as a result of him helping Trump, and is facing a separate defamation case from Dominion Voting Systems in addition to the Smartmatic and election worker cases. The attorney is one of several Trump-allied lawyers who are now facing consequences for their post-election activities and were indicted in Fulton County, including Sidney Powell, John Eastman, Kenneth Chesebro, Jenna Ellis and Jeffrey Clark.