Rudy Giuliani targets Donald Trump for ‘unpaid legal fees’ in new bankruptcy filing

Mr Giuliani filed for bankruptcy last month after he was ordered to pay $148m to Georgia election workers he defamed

Donald Trump’s former lawyer Rudy Giuliani has listed a claim against the one-term president over unpaid legal fees in a new bankruptcy filing.

The ex-New York City mayor includes a “possible claim for unpaid legal fees against Donald J Trump.” in the 26 January filing, which states that the amount is “undetermined.”

Mr Giuliani filed for bankruptcy last month, days after a federal judge ordered him to “immediately” pay more than $148m to a pair of Georgia election workers a jury determined he defamed.

Mr Giuliani represented Mr Trump in a string of unsuccessful lawsuits contesting the results of the 2020 election that he lost to Joe Biden.

Mr Trump’s legal fees owed to Mr Giuliani have previously been reported. The New York Times wrote in August 2023 that “Mr Trump has never explicitly told Mr Giuliani why he is effectively stiffing him, but the former president has pointed out that he lost the cases related to the election.”

Rudy Giuliani speaks to members of the media on 21 January 2024 in Manchester, New Hampshire (Getty Images)

The newspaper reported that the former president told his aides that he didn’t want Mr Giuliani to receive “a dime” unless he succeeded in the case, and noted that $340,000 had been paid to Mr Giuliani — through Trump’s Save America PAC — to cover some of his ex-lawyer’s legal debt.

The filing shows that “Joseph Biden Defamation Action” is also listed for an “undetermined” amount after Mr Giuliani sued the president in October after he used the phrase “Russian pawn” during a presidential debate in 2020. Mr Giuliani claimed that statement has cost him “millions and millions of dollars” from losing business and clients.

Under “tax refunds owed to you,” the filing also mentions “Overpayment of taxes from The Mask Singer” in California for more than $10,000. Mr Giuliani performed on “The Masked Singer” in 2022, in which he sang “Bad to the Bone.”

The Independent has reached out to spokespeople for Mr Trump and Mr Giuliani for comment.

Mr Giuliani raised more than $700,000 from 13 donors — including friends of Mr Trump — to help pay off his legal fees after the damning defamation ruling, a FEC filing from Thursday shows. These payments were made from August through December 2023.

But the record also shows the fund has spent more than $500,000 on his legal fees, leaving $180,000 in cash on hand.