Giuliani spent on Florida condo, RNC trip instead of bankruptcy fees

By Dietrich Knauth

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. judge criticized Rudy Giuliani on Wednesday for spending money on his Florida condominium and travel to the Republican National Convention while he avoids paying bankruptcy fees.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane ruled last week that Giuliani should be kicked out of bankruptcy over his failure to make required financial disclosures, but the decision did not immediately take effect.

Giuliani, Donald Trump's former lawyer, still owes bankruptcy expenses of about $350,000 to creditors who were forced to hire investigative accountants to fill gaps in his financial reports.

Lane said during a Wednesday court hearing in White Plains, New York, that he was "at a loss" about what to do next, given Giuliani's ongoing lack of cooperation with the bankruptcy court.

Lane suggested he might keep Giuliani in bankruptcy while the court investigates ways to make him pay the creditor fees, or force the former mayor to fly back to New York to testify about his available cash.

"There are a lot of things that your client doesn't want to happen, that can happen," Lane told Giuliani's attorneys.

Lane ordered Giuliani to present a plan for paying the creditor fees within 24 hours.

Giuliani, 80, sought bankruptcy protection in December after a Washington, D.C., court ordered him to pay $148 million to two Georgia election workers whom he falsely accused of rigging votes in the 2020 presidential election won by Democrat Joe Biden.

The bankruptcy prevented the former Georgia election workers, Wandrea "Shaye" Moss and her mother Ruby Freeman, from collecting on that judgment. It also froze other lawsuits against Giuliani stemming from his work for Trump, the former Republican president, seeking to overturn his loss in the 2020 election.

Rachel Strickland, an attorney for Moss and Freeman, said Wednesday that Giuliani was up to "shenanigans, yet again," and had continued to spend without authorization from the only bank account that he had discussed recently with his creditors.

Since last week, Giuliani spent about half of the $60,000 that was in the account -- $25,000 on maintenance fees for his Florida condo and on expenses in Milwaukee, where the former New York City mayor is attending the Republican National Convention, Strickland said.

When Giuliani's bankruptcy is dismissed, creditors will be able to resume lawsuits against him, and it also frees Giuliani to appeal the $148 million defamation judgment.

(Reporting by Dietrich Knauth; Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Cynthia Osterman)