Rudy Giuliani's Attorneys Seek Withdrawal in Debt Enforcement Case
The motion comes less than a week after the former New York City mayor was ordered to appear in court as part of efforts to collect on a $148 million defamation judgment against him, and was threatened with civil contempt.
November 14, 2024 at 02:10 PM
3 minute read
Lawyers for Rudy Giuliani are asking a judge to relieve them of their representation of the former New York City mayor in his debt enforcement case, citing an unspecified “fundamental disagreement.”
In a heavily redacted document, attorneys Kenneth Caruso and David Labknowski said they must terminate their representation of the embattled ex-lawyer, citing ethics rules that allow them to do so when a client insists on “taking action with which the lawyer has a fundamental disagreement” or “the client insists upon presenting a claim or defense that is not warranted under existing law and cannot be supported by good faith argument.”
The motion comes less than a week after Giuliani was ordered to appear in court as part of efforts to collect on a $148 million defamation judgment against him, and was threatened with civil contempt.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman has yet to rule on the motion.
Giuliani, 80, has continually fought attempts by Georgia poll workers Rudy Freeman and Wandrea "Shaye" Moss to collect on the massive verdict they were awarded last year following Giuliani’s false claims that they committed election fraud during the 2020 presidential election.
Freeman and Moss are represented by a team from Willkie Farr & Gallagher and have been fighting to enforce the award in Manhattan federal court.
Liman previously granted Freeman and Moss ownership of Giuliani’s mulitmillion-dollar Manhattan penthouse, and placed other assets into a receivership.
The plaintiffs' lawyer, Aaron Natah, has repeatedly raised concerns that Giuliani may be hiding assets, most recently claiming again on Wednesday that property had again been moved in violation of the receivership order as they struggle to locate assets.
At one point during his appearance in court last week, Liman threatened to place the former U.S. attorney for the Southern District under oath if he continued to refuse to answer questions about his finances.
Giuliani faced the same threat earlier this year during his failed attempt to secure bankruptcy protection.
A judge dismissed that case, finding that the now twice-disbarred attorney was not being transparent about his finances.
Should Liman grant the defense team’s motion, Giuliani would likely be left to fend for himself pro se.
He has attempted to do so in other unrelated civil litigation, though another judge last month urged Giuliani to bring in an attorney.
"You should strongly consider finding other counsel,” Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Nicholas Moyne told Giuliani during a chaotic and combative virtual hearing. "I'm going to protect you from yourself.”
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