Rudy Giuliani’s Attorney Hints at 9/11 Lung Disease, Denies Bankruptcy Crimes

Rudy Giuliani attends Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald J. Trump’s rally in Manchester, N.H., on Jan. 20, 2024. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s attorneys said in a court filing that Mr. Giuliani is suffering from a lung disease possibly linked to 9/11 that impairs his future earnings capacity, as they argued against the appointment of a trustee to oversee his debts.

Giuliani attorneys Gary C. Fischoff and Joan A. Keely said in a motion filed on June 10 at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York, that they oppose a request by Mr. Giuliani’s creditors to appoint a trustee to oversee his finances after he declared bankruptcy last year when ordered to pay $148 million to two former Georgia election workers.

“The debtor is an 80-year-old former attorney, is barred from practicing law,” Mr. Giuliani’s attorneys wrote in the filing, which also rejected claims that Mr. Giuliani was misleading his creditors and hiding his assets from them, an allegation his creditors made in their May 28 request for the appointment of the trustee.

“His only source of employment income is generated from his personal services,” the attorneys continued, while denying that he had committed any “bankruptcy crimes,” as the creditors had alleged.

“He is suffering from possible 9/11 lung disease and his future earning capacity is limited both by his age and future health,” Mr. Giuliani’s attorneys added.

Mr. Giuliani was Mayor of New York City during the terror attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. He was reportedly a frequent visitor to ground zero in the aftermath of the attacks. Studies have found a number of short and long-term health effects of 9/11 associated with intense dust or fume exposure, including various respiratory symptoms, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and a few cases of pulmonary fibrosis.

The Epoch Times reached out to Mr. Giuliani’s attorneys with a request for more details on the diagnosis and its specific implications for his future health and earnings potential.

The filing is the latest development in a legal saga stemming from a lawsuit by the two former Georgia election workers.

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A day before Mr. Giuliani filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last year, a federal judge ordered him to immediately pay $148 million to the two former election workers who sued him.

The massive payout stemmed from a lawsuit in which the two workers—Ruby Freeman and Wandrea Moss—accused Mr. Giuliani of defamation over his accusations that they committed voter fraud while counting ballots in Georgia’s Fulton County in the 2020 presidential election. An investigation by the Georgia Elections Board cleared Ms. Freeman and Ms. Moss of any wrongdoing.

In the months that followed Mr. Giuliani’s declaration of bankruptcy, his creditors accused him of entering agreements on terms intended to shield his assets from them, as well as other improprieties related to the proceedings.

On May 28, the creditors requested the court appoint a trustee to oversee Mr. Giuliani’s assets. The creditors accused Mr. Giuliani of potential “bankruptcy crimes,” namely using his businesses to divert resources away from his estate and creditors. They also accused him of dishonesty, incompetence, gross mismanagement of his affairs, inadequate record-keeping and reporting, inappropriate relations between him and his businesses, conflicts of interest, and breach of fiduciary duty.

The creditors’ attorneys cited the above multiple “facts” that they argued had forced them to request the appointment of a trustee to take control of Mr. Giuliani’s assets and financial affairs, and manage and oversee all day-to-day operations of his businesses.

In their June 10 response, Mr. Giuliani’s attorneys opposed the appointment of a trustee as costly and unnecessary. While they acknowledged that he “may be struggling” with some of the administrative aspects of his bankruptcy case, his attorneys denied any “bankruptcy crimes.”

Describing his earnings as “modest,” his attorneys insisted Mr. Giuliani has “always been fully transparent and open about his finances” and that he never meant to hide assets or mislead anyone.

Further, Mr. Giuliani’s attorneys said in the filing that he had already contributed $206,000 of exempt funds to his Chapter 11 case while preserving the equity in his two apartments for the benefit of the creditors.

The two apartments were the subject of earlier reports of efforts to sell Mr. Giuliani’s New York and Palm Beach condos to help pay off his nearly $153 million debt, the bulk of which was the $148 million judgment.

The Epoch Times has reached out to the creditors’ attorneys with a request for comment on Mr. Giuliani’s motion opposing the appointment of the trustee.