Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani is seeking to delay his $10 million sexual harassment and assault lawsuit after claiming that he is not yet out of bankruptcy.
On July 24, New York Supreme Court judge Nicholas Moyne ruled that New York bankruptcy judge Sean Lane has dismissed “the bankruptcy case of Rudolph W. Giuliani” and ordered the continuation of the sexual harassment case taken by former Giuliani employee Noelle Dunphy. Moyne had placed a stay on Dunphy’s case after Giuliani went into bankruptcy last December.
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However, in his latest filing in the sexual harassment, Giuliani’s lawyer, Adam Katz, said that restarting the case is “improper” and added that the former New York mayor is still in bankruptcy.
“Defendants believe that lifting the bankruptcy stay is premature and improper, in light of a decision from the Hon. Sean Lane in the Giuliani Bankruptcy…calling into questions whether the bankruptcy will, in fact, be dismissed.”
Katz submitted the filing at the weekend, after Moyne set a July 31 hearing in the sexual harassment case. On that day, the parties are due to discuss three of Dunphy’s allegations; sexual harassment, assault and wage theft. Giuliani strongly denies these. Newsweek sought email comment from his spokesperson on Monday.
Giuliani declared bankruptcy in December 2023 after a jury awarded $148 million to two Georgia election workers who had won a defamation lawsuit against him. As an attorney for Trump in 2020, Giuliani falsely alleged mother and daughter Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss committed election fraud while counting ballots in Fulton County.
Giuliani applied to come out of bankruptcy to avoid management by a court-appointed trustee who would monitor all of his financial transactions on behalf of the creditors.
The Dunphy case is just one of several major post-bankruptcy legal cases that Giuliani is facing.
Giuliani also faces a lawsuit by Dominion Voting Machines, which accuses him of falsely claiming their voting machines were rigged in Joe Biden’s favor during the 2020 presidential election. Dominion launched a $1.3 billion lawsuit against Giuliani in January 2021.
The company has already settled a similar claim against Fox News for $787.5 million, which means that a Giuliani settlement would likely be in the hundreds of millions.
In addition to these two major lawsuits, Giuliani’s list of bankruptcy creditors includes Citibank, the Emerald Dunes golf club in West Palm Beach in Florida, and a large number of law firms.
He still owes $148 million from the Georgia election case.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.