Creditors, the judge and a Justice Department official signaled that they were running out of patience with the former New York mayor’s accounts of his financial condition.
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Rudolph W. Giuliani’s creditors have asked a bankruptcy judge to appoint an independent trustee to take over his personal and business finances.
Rudolph W. Giuliani’s creditors and the judge overseeing his bankruptcy case aired their frustrations with him in court on Monday after months in which he has provided incomplete information about his finances, missed filing deadlines or failed to have his lawyers respond at all.
Mr. Giuliani’s creditors have asked the bankruptcy judge to appoint an independent trustee to take over his personal and business finances, citing his failures to comply with routine filings and their growing suspicion that he is hiding money.
Such an appointment would take a significant amount of power from Mr. Giuliani, the former New York City mayor and onetime personal lawyer for former President Donald J. Trump. He filed for bankruptcy in December, owing $153 million to about 20 people and entities. A vast majority — $148 million — is owed to two Georgia election workers whom a federal court found that he defamed in 2020, when he was helping lead Mr. Trump’s efforts to overturn his election loss.
“There are reasons to be very concerned here,” Judge Sean H. Lane of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York said at the end of a nearly three-hour hearing.
Judge Lane and lawyers for Mr. Giuliani’s creditors have previously raised concerns about his disengaged approach to the bankruptcy proceedings. But on Monday, a representative from the U.S. Trustee’s office, a division of the Justice Department responsible for ensuring that debtors and creditors are treated fairly in bankruptcy proceedings, signaled that the office is also losing patience with Mr. Giuliani.
The U.S. Trustee representative, Andrea Schwartz, said the government was prepared to file a motion to dismiss the case. If granted, such a motion could result in Mr. Giuliani’s losing the protection of his assets that bankruptcy provides. His main assets include his homes in New York and Florida and personal belongings like his New York Yankees World Series rings.
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Source: nytimes.com
