Creditors want Rudy Giuliani to sell his $3.5 million Florida condo to help pay off his large debts, according to a court document filed Friday.
The former New York City mayor filed for bankruptcy in December, citing a slew of unpaid debts, including a $148 million payment to two Georgia election poll workers who he falsely claimed tampered with the 2020 election ballots while working as a lawyer for former President Donald Trump.
In response to Friday’s filing, Giuliani’s attorney stated that the request to sell the Florida condo is “extremely premature.”
“The case is still in its infancy,” said Heath Berger, a partner at Berger, Fischoff, Shumer, Wexler & Goodman, LLP, who is defending Giuliani in his bankruptcy proceedings.
Giuliani has claimed that he lacks the cash to pay his debts, according to the Friday court filing: “According to the Debtor’s counsel, ‘there’s no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.'”
Berger told CNBC that Giuliani’s principal source of income is Social Security benefits and money from his Individual Retirement Account.
However, the court filing listed the many fees Giuliani currently pays to maintain his lifestyle.
For example, Giuliani pays tens of thousands of dollars every month to maintain his Florida condo. According to the document, he also spent over $26,200 on credit card payments for 60 Amazon transactions in January, including Netflix, Prime Video, Kindle, Audible, Paramount+, Uber trips, and more.
“Unfortunately, like everybody else, that’s like a debit card for him,” Berger went on to say. “We don’t believe that there’s anything out of the ordinary, outside of normal living expenses.”
Creditors view his real estate holdings as fair game for recouping what is owed. They stated that his “pre-war co-op” apartment on New York City’s Upper East Side is exempt because it is his primary abode.
However, the statement stated that Giuliani spends “approximately 20-30% of his time in Florida,” and creditors demanded that the $3.5 million condo be sold.
“It is merely a matter of when, not if, the Debtor will have to sell the Florida Condo in order to distribute the proceeds thereof to creditors,” the statement read.
However, Giuliani is selling his Manhattan apartment and plans to go to Florida full-time, according to Berger.
“The Manhattan property is more costly to maintain. “It’s worth more, so creditors will receive a larger distribution from the sale of that property,” Berger told CNBC.
Berger noted that payments related to his divorce “will be coming to a conclusion… within the next year or so.”
Creditors also ordered that Giuliani obtain homeowners insurance for his Florida and New York City homes, as they are his two most valuable assets, and “if anything were to happen to either of them, such loss would be a significant impediment to creditor recoveries.”
Giuliani claims he cannot pay the insurance, according to the court record.
The former Trump adviser has faced a host of legal issues as a result of his efforts to change the 2020 election results, all of which have contributed to his bankruptcy filing. According to his December bankruptcy declaration, he has between $1 million and $10 million in assets and almost $152 million in debt, including what he owes the IRS and law firms.