Giuliani cutting back large entourage to cut costs amid legal challenges, report claims

The former mayor is facing mounting legal fees from divorces and a major defamation lawsuit

Rudy Giuliani, former president Donald Trump's personal attorney and former mayor of New York, is apparently tightening his purse strings as he has reportedly cut some of his personal entourage.

Sources familiar with the layoffs told Politico that the reduction was done in an effort to save money.

In recent years, the former mayor would travel around the city with a staff of five people, but his shrinking crew may be indicative of financial difficulties he is facing in the fallout of the 2020 election.

Last month Mr Giuliani's home was raided by the FBI as part of a criminal probe into his whether he lobbied for Ukraine without disclosing it to the US government.

Compounding his troubles, the attorney is also wrestling with multiple divorces.

The Washington Post reported that Mr Giuliani was paying his ex-wife Judith $42,000 a month, or more than half a million a year. According to the paper, Mr Giuliani was making between $7m and $9m a year in 2016 and 2017.

On top of Mr Giuliani's ongoing alimony payments, he's also facing a $1.3bn defamation lawsuit from Dominion Voting Systems for pushing conspiracy theories alleging the company engaged in massive voter fraud to help Joe Biden in the 2020 elections.

Not all of Mr Giuliani's financial struggles are rooted in legal problems; he is also a lavish spender.

The former mayor has a preference for expensive living, frequently staying at places like the Trump International Hotel in Washington DC, where rooms can cost in the high hundreds of dollars per night and visiting lounges like New York's members-only cigar bar, the Grand Havana Room.

A lawyer representing one of Mr Giuliani's ex-wives claimed he spent tens of thousands of dollars for private jet services, $40,000 for a friend's son to get dental work, $7,000 on fountain pens, and $12,000 on cigars.

Mr Giuliani apparently tried to recoup some of those expenses by charging Mr Trump $20,000 a day in legal fees, according to The New York Times.

The Washington Post reported that Mr Trump waved off the request and told his aides not to pay the fees. Mr Giuliani denied the report.

Both Mr Giuliani's son Andrew and his allies called on the former president to pay for Mr Giuliani's quickly increasing legal fees, but thus far Mr Trump has not acted on those requests.