Rudy Giuliani

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      Giuliani may face defamation and sexual harassment lawsuits if bankruptcy is dismissed

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      A US judge on Wednesday said he is likely to discontinue Rudy Giuliani’s bankruptcy process, which would enable lawsuits for defamation, sexual harassment and other claims to proceed in other courts against Donald Trump’s former lawyer.Sean Lane, a US bankruptcy judge, said at a court hearing in White Plains, New York, that he would rule on Friday on competing requests from Giuliani and his creditors about the future of his bankruptcy case.Giuliani, 80, filed for bankruptcy protection last December after a Washington DC court ordered the former New York City mayor to pay $148m to two Georgia election workers, Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, whom he had falsely accused of rigging votes in the 2020 presidential election, following Joe Biden’s victory over Trump.The women had described how such public lies and hounding by the powerful Republican operative wrecked their lives.The bankruptcy process had prevented the election workers from collecting on that judgment, while freezing other lawsuits stemming from Giuliani’s work for Trump, the former Republican president, as he sought to overturn his loss in the 2020 election.Last week, Giuliani asked to convert his personal bankruptcy case into a straightforward liquidation, which would force him to sell nearly all of his assets. One group of creditors asked Lane to appoint a trustee to take over Giuliani’s finances and businesses, which could lead to a lengthy and contested bankruptcy liquidation, while another group said Giuliani should be kicked out of bankruptcy altogether.All three options pose significant risks for Giuliani.Lane said dismissal was likely the best option, given the difficulties the court has had in getting straight answers from Giuliani about his finances. A dismissal of his bankruptcy would allow Giuliani’s creditors to resume lawsuits against him, but it would also give him more freedom to appeal the $148m defamation judgment that prompted him to seek the legal protection afforded by a bankruptcy filing.“We believe that the debtor’s best chance of getting an appellate determination would be dismissal,” Giuliani attorney Gary Fischoff said during Wednesday’s court hearing.Rachel Strickland, representing Moss and her mother, Freeman, said Giuliani should be kicked out of bankruptcy so her clients can try to collect against him.Giuliani “regards this court as a pause button on his woes while he continues to live his life unbothered by creditors”, Strickland told Lane.A committee representing Giuliani’s other creditors asked Lane to instead appoint a trustee to take over Giuliani’s finances and businesses. Committee attorney Phil Dublin said ending the bankruptcy now would create a “race to the courthouse” among the many people who have sued Giuliani.Giuliani’s other creditors include former employee Noelle Dunphy, who has accused Giuliani of sexual assault and wage theft, and the voting machine companies Dominion and Smartmatic, who have also sued Giuliani for defamation. Giuliani has denied the allegations.In addition to the civil lawsuits, Giuliani denies criminal charges in Georgia and Arizona relating to election interference.Reuters contributed reporting. More

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      Rudy Giuliani says he’s ‘very, very proud’ of actions after taking Arizona mug shot

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      After emerging on Monday from having his mug shot taken in connection with the fake 2020 electors case pending against him in Arizona, Rudy Giuliani boasted about having no regrets over his actions that led to the criminal charges against him.“I’m very, very proud of it,” the former Donald Trump attorney and ex-mayor of New York City said as he left the state courthouse where he was processed on Monday.When a reporter with KPNX asked him if he had any regrets about his role in trying to overturn the former president’s defeat to Joe Biden in the 2020 election, Giuliani added: “Oh, my goodness, no.”The comments from Giuliani came after an Arizona grand jury in May indicted him alongside 16 other Trump allies with attempting to change the outcome of Biden’s electoral victory in the state in 2020.The grand jury charged Giuliani with pressuring Arizona legislators and the Maricopa county board of supervisors to change the result of the state’s presidential election – and with encouraging Republican electors in Arizona and six other contested states to vote for Trump.It is one of Giuliani’s two unresolved criminal cases stemming from Trump’s loss to Biden. A grand jury in Georgia had previously charged him with spearheading efforts to compel state lawmakers to ignore the will of voters who rejected the former president in favor of Biden and illegally appoint pro-Trump electors to the electoral college.Giuliani has pleaded not guilty in both cases.On Monday, Giuliani was required to appear in person to be formally booked on the conspiracy, fraud and forgery charges outlined in the Arizona indictment after a virtual arraignment on 21 May. He also posted a $10,000 bond and had his mug shot as well as his fingerprints taken.The criminal charges against Giuliani in Arizona and Georgia account for only some of the 80-year-old’s legal problems. He filed for bankruptcy protection in December 2023 after being ordered to pay $148m in a defamation case brought against him by Atlanta election workers Ruby Freeman and Shay Moss.Giuliani had falsely accused Freeman and Moss of having a hand in robbing Trump of the 2020 election to Biden’s benefit.His spreading of the lie that Trump only lost in 2020 because of electoral fraudsters also prompted the New York City radio station WABC to suspend Giuliani’s show from its lineup. But such a consequence did not seem to deter Giuliani from alluding to the 2020 election in his remarks to KPNX on Monday.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotion“There was a substantial amount of vote fraud that went on here that was covered up,” Giuliani said to the station, even though election integrity experts consider the 2020 race that Trump lost to be one of the most secure ever. “Probably one of the biggest conspiracies in American history.”Giuliani, who was previously the US attorney for the federal court district encompassing New York City, later went on his online streaming show and expressed disbelief over Monday’s events.“It’s hard for me to believe – after all my years in law enforcement and serving the government and all the cases I prosecuted successfully – that I actually had to report as a defendant in a criminal case,” he said on America’s Mayor Live. More

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      Bankruptcy trustee should take over Giuliani’s assets, creditors’ attorneys say

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      A bankruptcy judge should appoint a trustee to immediately take control of Rudy Giuliani’s financial affairs after the former mayor repeatedly lied and deceived creditors about his finances, lawyers for the creditors said in a Tuesday court filing.Among other things, the lawyers said Giuliani was funneling money into his businesses to avoid it going to creditors, undervalued his jewellery, and refused to disclose what several Apple and Amazon purchases were for. Giuliani filed for bankruptcy in December, shortly after a jury in Washington DC ordered him to pay $148.1m in damages to Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss – two Atlanta, Georgia, election workers he spread lies about after the 2020 election.“Over and over again, the Debtor has shown his preference for delay, diversion and theatrics over progress, rehabilitation and maximization of value for his creditors. His creditors do not need to accept this as their plight,” lawyers for creditors wrote. “Accordingly, the time has come for the immediate appointment of a chapter 11 trustee to take control of the Debtor’s assets and financial affairs, including his wholly-owned businesses.”Ted Goodman, a Giuliani spokesperson, did not respond to a text message seeking comment.The lawyers representing creditors said they only became aware of Giuliani’s deal to promote a coffee brand through press reports earlier this month.Giuliani receives 80% of the net proceeds of the sale of each bag, which is paid to Giuliani Communications, an LLC he owns, according to the contract. That arrangement was intentional, they said, to ensure that profits from the deal did not go to creditors.“These facts suggest that Mr Giuliani, a debtor in a chapter 11 case with more than $148 million of claims against him, is working for free to the detriment of his creditors, which in itself is problematic, and/or funneling funds that belong to his creditors to his business and using his business as a personal piggy bank, which is fraudulent,” they wrote.“The former mayor of New York City, a former United States Associate Attorney General and a former United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, can and should find a paying job that will help fund distributions to his creditors instead of kickbacks to his cronies and a personal slush fund.”Reviewing Giuliani’s credit card statements, they said, it was clear he had personally paid “to cover the travel and lodging expenses of his close associates and employees of his business”. They also said he paid the expenses of Maria Ryan, his girlfriend. In an email disclosed as part of the filing, Giuliani’s lawyers said Giuliani had reimbursed for expenses paid on his behalf. “The debtor will NOT be paying anyone else’s cards,” Heath Berger, a Giuliani attorney, wrote in the email.Among his assets, Giuliani also listed a collection of several luxury watches and three New York Yankees world series rings as having a total value of $30,000. The creditors accused him of deliberately deflating the value of the items, citing a single Yankees world series ring that auctioned for more than $29,000. They also said he refused to sell his Palm Beach home and failed to disclose his ongoing membership at the Palm Beach Yacht Club.“Regardless of whether Mr Giuliani is actually a member of this club (and it appears he is), his behavior is being perceived by the Committee and his creditors as dishonest. Because, while his creditors are told to sit on their hands, Mr Giuliani opts to ignore his obligations as a debtor in possession and instead, kick back at the Palm Beach Yacht Club,” the attorneys wrote.Giuliani has also filed several spending disclosures late with the court and failed to provide information on a “troubling quantity of Amazon and Apple transactions”, lawyers said. His January spending disclosure, for example, included “at least 60 Amazon transactions” and the creditors attorneys said they have no idea what they are for.“The Committee will now need to investigate whether the Debtor is liable for bankruptcy crimes through the use of his businesses to divert resources away from his estate and creditors in connection with his purported income that he allegedly never personally received,” lawyers wrote.Giuliani has pled not guilty in separate criminal cases dealing with his efforts to overturn the election in Arizona and Georgia. More

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      Another week, another Trump flirtation with fascism

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      Welcome back to the Stakes, our weekly US politics newsletter. I cover democracy issues, and I’m filling in for Adam Gabbatt this week as Donald Trump flirted with a third term in office (yes, that’s illegal) and posted a video promising a “unified reich” (yes, that’s Nazi-adjacent language). Weird how these anti-democratic “gaffes” keep happening! We’ll get into why that might be, after a look at what else is happening in US politics.Here’s what you need to know
      Trump rests, but doesn’t get any restOn the 20th day of the hush-money trial in New York, Trump declined to take the stand and the defense rested. Trump had falsely claimed he wasn’t allowed to take the stand: he was, and he chose not to. Outside the courtroom, he said although the defense would rest quickly, he himself would not be resting. “I don’t rest. I’d like to rest sometimes, but I don’t get to rest.”
      Biden’s Israel problemThe international criminal court’s prosecutor applied for arrest warrants for leaders of Israel and Hamas, and Joe Biden is not pleased. He called the warrant application “outrageous” and said: “We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security.” His strong backing of Israel comes as the progressive left continues to pressure him to end US support for the Israel-Gaza war.
      That’s not the way the flag goesAn upside-down US flag – a symbol of those who believed the 2020 election was stolen – flew outside the home of the supreme court justice Samuel Alito’s home shortly after the January 6 insurrection in 2021. Alito blamed his wife, saying she did it as part of a dispute with a neighbor, but many observers saw it as the latest example of the politicization of the high court.
      Too many coincidencesView image in fullscreenAnother week, another few instances of Trump flirting with fascism.On Monday, Trump’s Truth Social account reposted a video about a second Trump term which included a fake newspaper with reference to a “unified reich”. The term means “empire” in German and is indelibly associated with Hitler’s rule, which the Nazis called the Third Reich.Biden’s campaign seized on it, saying Trump was telegraphing how he’d lead “as a dictator over a ‘unified reich’”. Trump’s campaign defended themselves by arguing it was all a mistake, saying a staffer reposted the video but didn’t see the words.But the video remained on Trump’s page for 15 hours, long after media outlets had reported on it, and stayed up even after the Trump campaign had acknowledged it in its statement.This pattern isn’t new for Trump: he will often use fascist language or nods to extremist groups, then claim it was a mistake or that the left and the media are twisting a narrative.Like claiming he would be a “dictator on day one”, but only for a day. Or promising a “bloodbath” if he lost the election, which his campaign later declared was a reference to the auto industry. Or calling his political opponents “vermin” – something Hitler also did – and saying immigrants are “poisoning the blood” of the US.Most recently, just days before the Truth Social video, speaking at the National Rifle Association’s convention, Trump floated the idea of a third term. US presidents are limited to two terms by the 22nd amendment to the constitution, which was passed in 1951 a few years after Franklin D Roosevelt won his fourth term.“You know, FDR 16 years – almost 16 years – he was four terms. I don’t know, are we going to be considered three-term? Or two-term?” Trump asked the NRA crowd, some of whom responded “three!”He has previously said he wouldn’t try for a third term – which is good, because it’s not clear how he could unless he figures out how to suspend or override the constitution – and if that were to happen, who knows what comes next.Regardless, the prospect of “Trump forever” is clearly on voters’ minds when they’re deciding who to elect this year, a sign that his ongoing authoritarian bent is spooking at least part of the undecided electorate.“I wouldn’t put it past him, now that he owns the RNC, to say: ‘Don Jr is going to do the next term, and he’ll get two,” said one focus group attendee who was quoted by Bloomberg.“‘And then Barron will get two.’ And we’ll just have some fake monarchy.”Worst weekView image in fullscreenArizona’s fake electors. Eleven of them were arraigned on Tuesday in the state’s case against the people who falsely signed documents saying Trump won the state, and the Trump allies who drummed up the idea.Among the 11 were Christina Bobb, an attorney who is now the Republican National Committee’s senior counsel for election integrity; Rudy Giuliani (last week’s “worst week” winner); former Arizona Republican party chair Kelli Ward and her husband, Michael; and Anthony Kern, a sitting state senator.Giuliani, 80, is so far the only one charged who was required by the court to post a bond, for $10,000. The former New York City mayor led the attorney general’s office on a cross-country chase, which culminated at his birthday party – after taunting the AG on social media – where court officials served him the charges. He later complained that the summons was not delivered to him “stylishly”, though it’s more stylish than usual to serve charges by crashing an 80-year-old’s birthday bash.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionBiggest lieView image in fullscreenTrump. The former president was in my home state last Friday for a fundraiser where he again told a whopper: that he won Minnesota in the 2020 election.Obviously, he falsely claims nonstop that he won the entire election in 2020. But the Minnesota claim is a bit newer, as he tries to make the case that the state’s voters should swing to him.“I thought we won it in 2016. I thought we won it in ’20 – I know we won it in 2020,” he said, according to NBC.The 2020 election in Minnesota was not close: Trump lost by more than 233,000 votes, though he was closer in 2016, losing to Hillary Clinton by less than 45,000. Could he win the state in 2024? If he did, it would almost certainly mean Biden lost spectacularly nationwide: Minnesota is a Democratic stronghold for presidents, and the last Republican who won it was Richard Nixon in 1972.Elsewhere in US politicsView image in fullscreen The majority of Americans – nearly three in five – wrongly believe the US is in an economic recession, and many blame Biden, an exclusive new poll for the Guardian revealed. You can also take our quiz to see if you know how the US economy is faring. Two states have required schools to show an animated video in sex ed classes called Meet Baby Olivia, created by an anti-abortion group to show fetal development. Carter Sherman reports on the latest front of the anti-abortion movement. A Republican concerned about election fraud in 2020 found no fraud once he took over his county’s elections after winning office, Alice Herman reports from conservative Hillsdale county, Michigan.Words fail usView image in fullscreen“If I put my name on something, I really believe it”: Rudy Giuliani, who declared bankruptcy and owes massive legal fees and debts from various civil and criminal lawsuits, on his new coffee line, which he called “smooth, rich, chocolatey and gentle on your stomach”. More

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      Rudy Giuliani pleads not guilty to charges in Arizona fake electors case

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      Rudy Giuliani denied charges of illegally trying to keep Donald Trump in power after his 2020 election defeat as he was arraigned to appear before a court in Arizona along with 10 other defendants on Tuesday.Giuliani’s not guilty plea to nine felony charges came days after he was served an indictment as he left a party to celebrate his 80th birthday last Friday.Giuliani was the last of the 12 defendants to receive a summons to Tuesday’s hearing after the Arizona attorney general’s office said he had evaded efforts to serve him with a notice for several days.Reflecting the difficulties in tracking him down, the attorney general’s office requested a $10,000 cash bond for Giuliani, citing the problems it had serving him with an indictment and a general lack of cooperation, according to reports. No such request was made of other defendants.Others charged over their roles as false electors include two sitting lawmakers, state senators Jake Hoffman and Anthony Kern. The former Arizona Republican party chair Kelli Ward and her husband, Michael Ward, have been charged, as has Tyler Bowyer, a Republican national committeeman, and Turning Point USA executive, and Jim Lamon, who ran for US Senate in 2022.The others charged in the fake electors scheme are Nancy Cottle, Robert Montgomery, Samuel Moorhead, Lorraine Pellegrino and Gregory Safsten.Further defendants are expected to be arraigned next month, including Boris Epshteyn, a lawyer for Trump, and Mark Meadows, a former White House chief of staff.Trump himself is listed as “un-indicted co-conspirator 1” in the case but has not been charged.Before receiving the indictment, Giuliani, the former New York mayor and the legal spearhead of Trump’s lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, had taunted the Arizona officials by posting a picture of himself on X challenging them to drop the case.“If Arizona authorities can’t find me by tomorrow morning: 1. They must dismiss the indictment; 2. They must concede they can’t count votes,” he captioned the post, which has since been deleted.After being served his indictment, Giuliani posted on Facebook that he did not know that Arizona officials were looking for him until “somebody told me there was a news article saying they were having a hard time finding me”.The indictment alleged that Giuliani “pressured” Arizona legislators and the Maricopa county board of supervisors to change the election result in the state, which Joe Biden won by more than 10,000 votes.He is also accused of urging Republican electors in Arizona to vote for Trump, in the face of the popular vote counts showing a victory for Biden.According to the testimony of Rusty Bowers, a former speaker of the Arizona house of representatives, Giuliani, in his efforts to persuade the state legislature to overturn the 2020 vote, told him and legislators that “we don’t have the evidence but we have lots of theories”.The case is the latest in a spate of legal woes to beset Giuliani – a former federal prosecutor once renowned for fighting mafia organised crime bosses – over his attempts to help Trump overturn the 2020 poll.He has filed for bankruptcy after being ordered to pay $148m in damages to two election workers in Georgia after they successfully sued for defamation. More

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      Rudy Giuliani complains Arizona indictment not served ‘stylishly’

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      The former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani has complained that an indictment handed down against him in connection with Arizona’s fake electors case was not served “stylishly”.Giuliani was one of 17 defendants who was charged over his role in attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election.The Trump ally was served a copy of a document containing the charges against him during a celebration for his 80th birthday in Palm Beach, Florida, a party thrown by a Republican fundraiser, Caroline Wren.He expressed dissatisfaction with the way the indictment was presented in remarks he made on Sunday alongside his girlfriend, Maria Ryan.“So one guy, he walked in between a couple of people who didn’t know who he was. And he handed me a folded-up, crumpling piece of paper. It was a crumpling piece of paper. It wasn’t, like, done stylishly,” Giuliani said.“And he handed it to me, and he said, this is from Arizona attorney general [Kris Mayes]. I still don’t have the indictment,” he added.Giuliani’s indictment papers came after he mocked Mayes on social media.In a post on X that has since been deleted, Giuliani bragged about evading Mayes – and the former attorney to Trump claimed that charges against him would be dismissed if officials could not serve him in time.“If Arizona authorities can’t find me by tomorrow morning: 1. They must dismiss the indictment 2. They must concede they can’t count votes,” Giuliani wrote in the post, which also had a picture featuring smiling friends and party balloons.The indictment was served hours later. Mayes tweeted on 17 May: “The final defendant was served moments ago. [Rudy Giuliani, ] nobody is above the law.”Mayes also shared a screenshot of Giuliani’s deleted post.A Giuliani spokesperson, Ted Goodman, said the ex-New York City mayor was “unfazed” by the indictment-related disruption at his party, according to a statement reported by Politico.“He was unfazed, and enjoyed an incredible evening with hundreds of people, from all walks of life, who love and respect him for his contributions to society,” Goodman said. “We look forward to full vindication soon.”In her own remarks to Politico, Wren described the birthday celebration as “a wonderful evening celebrating an American hero”.“It’s a shame that while the Arizona southern border is wide open and crime is reaching an all-time high, the [Arizona] secretary of state’s office thought it was a good use of resources to send agents across the country to serve an indictment to a man who has spent his entire life dedicated to law and order and was just trying to celebrate his 80th birthday amongst friends & family,” Wren said.The latest indictment is one of several legal and personal issues facing Giuliani.Among other matters, Giuliani filed for bankruptcy in December after being ordered to pay $148m in a defamation case for falsely accusing two Georgia poll workers of election subversion in 2020. More

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      Rudy Giuliani suspended by New York radio station over 2020 election lies

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      The former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani’s troubles deepened on Friday when he was suspended by WABC radio, for trying to use his show to discuss the lie that the 2020 presidential election was lost by Donald Trump because of electoral fraud.John Catsimatidis, a New York billionaire, Republican donor and owner of WABC, told the New York Times: “We’re not going to talk about fallacies of the November 2020 election. We warned him once. We warned him twice. And I get a text from him last night, and I get a text from him this morning that he refuses not to talk about it.“So he left me no option. I suspended him.”Giuliani later said he had been fired.A spokesperson for Giuliani issued a lengthy statement, in which the former mayor said: “I’m learning from a leak to the New York Times that I’m being fired by John Catsimatidis and WABC because I refused to comply with their overly broad directive stating, word-for-word, that I’m ‘prohibited from engaging in conversations relating to the 2020 presidential election’.”Claiming “a clear violation of free speech”, Giuliani said he would address the situation further on social media on Friday night.But he went on to say the move by WABC came “at a very suspicious time, just months before the 2024 election, and just as John and WABC continue to be pressured by Dominion Voting Systems and the Biden regime’s lawyers”.Dominion Voting Systems, a manufacturer of elections machines, reached a $787.5m settlement with Fox News over its broadcast of election fraud lies. It also sued Giuliani and Sidney Powell, another lawyer who worked on Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election.Now 79, Giuliani was mayor of New York from 1993 to 2001, emerging as a national figure after leading the city through the 9/11 terror attacks. He ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008.Long close to Trump, who reportedly helped him through a personal crisis after the failed presidential run, Giuliani emerged as a steadfast supporter when Trump ran for the Republican nomination in 2016 and then won the White House.Giuliani did not win the prize of being made secretary of state, but he worked on Trump’s behalf in matters including the attempt to extract political dirt from Ukraine, which prompted Trump’s first impeachment.In 2020, Giuliani worked to try to overturn Joe Biden’s defeat of Trump at the polls, only to suffer a series of courtroom defeats and mounting public embarrassments.Giuliani denies wrongdoing, but his efforts on Trump’s behalf have produced legal disbarment proceedings; criminal charges in two swing states, Georgia and Arizona; and defeat in a defamation suit that left him owing $148m to two Georgia poll workers he claimed were involved in electoral fraud.Giuliani filed for bankruptcy in New York last December. Filings showed debts of up to $500m.Earlier this week, a legal filing on Giuliani’s behalf said no accountants “seem[ed] interested” in working with him to meet requirements in the bankruptcy case.His spokesperson, Ted Goodman, said then: “While it is true that the permanent Washington political class is leveraging all of its power and influence to bully and scare people from defending Americans who are willing to stand up and push back against the accepted narrative, Mayor Giuliani will be appropriately represented when it comes to his accounting and finances.”The filing on Tuesday said the former mayor, who made millions in consulting work after leaving office in 2001, “currently received social security benefits and broadcasts a radio show and podcast”.“These are his sole sources of income,” it said.Catsimatidis told the Times that at the close of his WABC show on Thursday, Giuliani tried to speak about the 2020 election but was cut off by station employees.“Look, I like the guy as a person, but you can’t do that,” Catsimatidis told the paper. “You can’t cross the line. My view is that nobody really knows [about the 2020 result] but we had made a company policy. It’s over, life goes on.”In his statement, Giuliani accused Catsimatidis of “telling reporters I was informed ahead of time of these restrictions, which is demonstrably untrue.“How can you possibly believe that when I’ve been regularly commenting on the 2020 election for three and a half years, and I’ve talked about the case in Georgia incessantly ever since the verdict in December. Other WABC hosts and newscasters questioned me on these topics.“Obviously I was never informed on such a policy, and even if there was one, it was violated so often that it couldn’t be taken seriously.” More

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      Could you get by on a measly $43,000 a month? It seems Rudy Giuliani can’t | Arwa Mahdawi

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      ‘Bankruptcy” is a surprisingly amorphous term. For poor people, it means not having any money. For corporations and the super-wealthy it means a nifty legal strategy that can shield their riches from lawsuits. And for Rudy Giuliani, the disgraced former mayor of New York City and personal attorney of Donald Trump, it means being forced to try to subsist on a measly $43,000 (£34,200) a month.Half a million dollars in spending money a year might seem a princely sum to the common man, but “Sir” Rudy (recipient of an honorary knighthood) is anything but. We’re talking about a gentleman with elevated tastes here: a bon vivant who, during a legal battle with his estranged third wife, was accused of spending $7,000 on fountain pens and $12,000 on cigars over a five-month period. In that same timeframe, his ex-wife’s lawyer claimed he spent $286,000 on his alleged lover, $165,000 on personal travel and $447,938 “for his own enjoyment”. That’s a lot of enjoyment.Giuliani’s spendthrift ways are now facing legal roadblocks. In December, a judge ordered the 79-year-old to pay $148m in damages to two election workers he had baselessly accused of rigging votes in the 2020 US election. Almost immediately, Giuliani – who owes creditors $152m in total – filed for bankruptcy. Because he is a responsible citizen, Giuliani prepared a strict budget and told a federal bankruptcy court in January that he would spend no more than $43,000 a month. This was supposed to cover necessities and not include frivolities such as entertainment.Alas, budgeting doesn’t seem to come naturally to Giuliani, who ended up frittering away almost $120,000 in January alone (more than double the median US annual salary). It is not entirely clear where all this money went but, according to the New York Times, the information Giuliani provided to creditors’ lawyers listed “60 transactions on Amazon, multiple entertainment subscriptions, various Apple services… Uber rides and payment of some of his business partner’s personal credit card bill”. He hasn’t submitted detailed information about his finances since, so it’s unclear if this level of spending has continued. Still, someone needs to change that man’s Amazon password, stat.By now, it seems clear that Giuliani, whose fall from grace has been dizzying, needs quite a bit of help. And, you know what? I am happy to give it to him. I may not be a financial adviser, but I am a geriatric millennial who came into the working world during the 2008 recession – which means I have heard a lot of budgeting tips over the years. Don’t eat avocado toast if you ever want to buy a house, don’t get takeaway coffee, live on foraged beans and pond water, never leave the house. No doubt you’ve seen all these tips too – there’s always a helpful multimillionaire doling out advice to us plebs on how to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps. Kirstie Allsopp, the daughter of landed gentry, for example, has insinuated the affordable housing crisis is overblown, and anyone can buy a house if they just cut out Netflix and gym memberships. More recently, the CEO of Kellogg’s suggested that families who were having a hard time making ends meet might consider eating cereal for dinner.Giuliani can certainly try swapping out his lobster bisque dinners for Rice Krispies, but I’m not sure it’ll make a dent in the $152m he owes. It might be more effective, I reckon, if he takes a break from marrying and divorcing. This appears to be an extremely expensive habit of his: thrice-wedded Giuliani has spent millions on acrimonious divorce proceedings. (Fun related fact: Giuliani’s first wife was his second cousin and, after 14 years, they annulled the marriage because they hadn’t got the correct dispensations for cousin-marrying.) Another top financial tip is to avoid being charged with multiple crimes: lawyers are very expensive.If he can’t save his way out of financial ruin, Giuliani can do what conservatives like him are always telling the rest of us to do: work harder. He faces being disbarred, so lawyering probably isn’t an option. But the man can always go back to selling personalised videos at $375 a pop on Cameo. He has clearly got a knack for it: last year, a video of him reciting “I’m a little teapot” went viral. Now if he’s just a little teapot 405,333 more times, he should be out of hot water. More