Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani was scolded by a judge on Friday and threatened with jail time for missing court dates and delaying divorce payments to his ex-wife when she sued him for $262,000 in alimony.
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Michael Katz apparently ran out of patience with Giuliani and threatened him with jail time, saying: ‘A sheriff is on notice to come at a moment’s notice today.’
“This is a very serious matter,” Katz told an apologetic Giuliani, who missed a hearing last month.
Giuliani claimed he wrote the wrong date for the hearing and called the absence ‘very stupid’.
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani appeared in court Friday and was threatened with prison by Judge Michael Katz for missing court dates and delaying alimony payments.
Giuliani claimed he wrote the wrong date for the hearing and called the absence ‘very stupid’
Judith Giuliani, pictured here, in a lawsuit filed in New York Supreme Court, claims Rudy has been ‘inconsistent and sporadic’ with the payments he was required to make to her
But Katz pushed back the apology, saying ‘you repeated the date to me so you knew about it.’
‘I said everyone should be here on the 23rd and you repeated that to me. I don’t understand your excuse,’ he scolded.
Giuliani maintained that he ‘put it down the wrong way when I left the courthouse.’
The embattled Donald Trump ally also turned over copies of the checks he said he paid to his ex-wife, Judith Giuliani, for alimony.
Judith claims in a lawsuit filed in New York Supreme Court that Rudy has been ‘inconsistent and sporadic’ with the payments he was required to make to her under their divorce settlement.
While Giuliani now claims the checks he presented in court prove he paid his ex-wife, Katz pressed him again about the process taking so long.
“I don’t understand why it takes two months to get checks from Citibank,” the judge said.
‘I can get my bank details by entering a password on the computer. I don’t understand why there is such a delay,” he added.
“I’m in a dramatically different position than I was before,” Giuliani responded. ‘These amounts of money are catastrophic, but they are also completely false.’
Judith’s lawyer said they had just received the evidence and would spend some time verifying the checks to calculate how much more is owed.
She demands that Rudy pay the $262,000 he allegedly owes her with interest, but says he has been inconsistent with payments and even demanded a check he paid her for $10,000 in July that was returned.
Judith and her attorney also continued to request that Giuliani be held in contempt of court, but Katz said he wanted to see how much Giuliani still has to pay before deciding.
“I have no desire to take anybody into custody until I’m sure he really hasn’t fulfilled his obligation,” Katz said.
Outside the courthouse, Giuliani told reporters the hearing ‘went very well’ and even said he may have overpaid his ex-wife.
‘The referee canceled the foul [contempt] order which was based on false statements by her,’ Giuliani said.
‘As you can see, it’s not true that I owed $200,000 or $300,000. At most, it’s probably closer to $20,000 — if that, he added.
Judith and her attorney also continued to request that Giuliani be held in contempt of court, but Katz said he needed more proof that Giuliani had not fulfilled his obligation
The embattled Donald Trump ally also handed over copies of the checks he said he paid to his ex-wife, Judith Giuliani, for the alimony.
Outside the courthouse, Giuliani told reporters the hearing ‘went very well’ and even said he may have overpaid his ex-wife
The suit also noted that their divorce settlement requires them both to pay their own country club dues, and Rudy has allegedly “failed to pay his half of the annual club membership dues.”
“I had no choice but to pay his share of the dues,” Judith said of the $70,000 she allegedly paid on Rudy’s behalf. ‘To remain in good standing with the clubs.’
The legal battle comes as Rudy was ordered to testify before a special Georgia grand jury investigating former President Donald Trump’s alleged attempt to overturn the 2020 election results.
Rudy’s law license was suspended in both New York and Washington DC as he faces ethics charges for his fraudulent election claims. He was also sued by Dominion Voting Systems for $1.3 billion after claiming their voting machines were rigged.
Despite her recent legal troubles, Judith is ‘sure’ that Rudy can afford to pay her what she wants.
‘He owns several properties in New York City and Palm Beach [and it seems] he has significant earnings from his media-related contracts and agreements,’ he has claimed.
The couple had a contentious divorce in April 2018 after 15 years of marriage. They sparred over their combined fortune, which was an estimated $30 million.
During the divorce, Judith’s lawyers accused Rudy of working for free as Trump’s lawyer in an attempt to lower his income and reduce his then $42,000 monthly alimony.
Judith also accused Rudy of stealing her heirloom Christmas decoration collections. He accused her of swiping the remote controls and cable box so he couldn’t watch television.
Their divorce was finalized in December 2019, but the details of the settlement were not made public. Judith was awarded the couple’s Hamptons home, which she later sold for $5 million.
Meanwhile, Rudy has been subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury investigating Trump’s alleged attempt to overturn the 2020 election results.
‘It is hereby ordered that Rudolph William Louis Giuliani appear and testify’ before the grand jury in the state Superior Court of Georgia in Fulton County beginning on August 9, said the order filed on July 20 after Rudy tried to block the subpoena, failed to appear at a hearing in New York.
The Georgia special grand jury issued subpoenas to Sen. Lindsey Graham and members of Trump’s former legal team, including Rudy.
The investigation was launched after Trump was recorded in a January 2, 2021, phone call pressuring Georgia’s secretary of state to overturn the state’s election results based on unsubstantiated allegations of voter fraud.
Rudy spearheaded Trump’s legal efforts to overturn election results in several swing states, including Georgia, which was won by President Joe Biden.
In the call, Trump urged Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a fellow Republican, to “find” enough votes to overturn his loss in Georgia to Democrat Biden.
The transcript quotes Trump telling Raffensperger, ‘I just want to find 11,780 votes’ – the number Trump needed to win Georgia.
Trump has denied wrongdoing in the phone call.