Rudy Giuliani has been sued by a lawyer after he was accused of failing to pay $1.36 million in legal bills
NEW YORK — Rudy Giuliani’s former lawyer sued him on Monday, saying the former New York mayor paid only a fraction of the nearly $1.6 million in legal fees he incurred in investigating his efforts to keep Donald Trump in the White House. have accumulated.
Robert Costello and his law firm Davidoff Hutcher & Citron LLP say Giuliani only paid them $214,000 and still has a balance of $1.36 million. Giuliani’s last payment was $10,000 on Sept. 14, according to the lawsuit – about a week after Trump hosted a $100,000-a-plate fundraiser for Giuliani at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
Costello and the firm say Giuliani, once hailed as “America’s Mayor” for his leadership after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, violated his fee agreement by failing to pay bills on time and in full. The lawsuit, filed in state court in Manhattan, seeks full payment of Giuliani’s unpaid bills as well as costs and fees for her efforts to get him to pay.
“I cannot express how personally hurt I am by what Bob Costello did,” Giuliani said in a statement through his spokesman on Monday. “It really is a disgrace when lawyers do this and all I can say is that their bill goes way beyond anything that even comes close to offering legitimate fees.”
Monday’s lawsuit is the latest sign of Giuliani’s growing financial burden, exacerbated by costly investigations, lawsuits, fines, sanctions and damages related to his work helping Trump overturn the 2020 election.
Giuliani, Trump and 17 others were indicted in Georgia last month. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis accused her of plotting to undermine Joe Biden’s election victory. Giuliani has pleaded not guilty to charges that he was Trump’s key co-conspirator.
Costello, partner at Davidoff Hutcher & Citron was Giuliani’s attorney from November 2019 to July 2023. He represented Giuliani in matters ranging from an investigation into his business dealings in Ukraine, which led to an FBI raid on his home and office in April 2021, to state and federal investigations into his work following Trump’s election loss in 2020.
Costello and his firm said in their lawsuit that they also represented Giuliani in various civil suits filed against him and in disciplinary proceedings that resulted in the suspension of his law licenses in Washington, D.C. and New York.
Giuliani could face a massive fine after a judge last month found him liable in a defamation lawsuit brought by two Georgia election workers who said he falsely accused them of fraud. The judge has already ordered Giuliani and his companies to pay more than $130,000 in legal fees for the women.
Giuliani’s son Andrew said last week that the Bedminster fundraiser was expected to raise more than $1 million for Giuliani’s legal battles and that Trump had committed to holding a second event later at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida , to be aligned in autumn or early winter.
Meanwhile, Giuliani is trying to raise money in other ways.
In July, he put his Manhattan apartment up for sale for $6.5 million. After his arraignment, he directed his social media followers to his legal defense fund’s website. To save money, Giuliani has represented himself in some legal disputes.
Last year, a judge threatened Giuliani with prison in a dispute over money owed to Judith, his third ex-wife. Giuliani said he was making progress toward paying off the debt, which she said totaled more than $260,000.
In May, a woman who said she worked for Giuliani sued him, claiming he owed her nearly $2 million in unpaid wages and forced her to have sex. Giuliani denied the allegations.
