Former New York City mayor and President Donald Trump's attorney Rudy Giuliani claimed that he has no money to pay for expenses his wife requested in their divorce proceedings despite earning more than $9 million last year, The New York Post reports.
Giuliani, who is divorcing his third wife Judith Nathan, claimed that he cannot pay the expenses Nathan is seeking. Nathan wants Giuliani to pay for their shared homes in Palm Beach and Southhampton, the cost of housing her mother in an assisted living facility, and her personal assistant. She also wants $63,000 per month in spousal support.
Nathan's lawyer, Bernard Clair, mocked Giuliani's claim by quipping that the former mayor was suffering from “sudden income deficit syndrome.”
“The symptoms of the SIDS program is front and center: first, Mr. Giuliani claims financial trouble, financial trouble that existed only post-commencement [of the divorce proceeding], according to his statements,” Clair told a judge. “His actions and his finances and his expenses don’t comport with the claim of his income diminishment.”
Giuliani attorney Faith Miller called the remark “insulting” and insisted that while Giuliani earned $9.5 million last year, he has made “just shy of $5 million.”
Divorce proceeding devolves into Trump debate:
During the hearing, Clair pointed out that Giuliani made less money this year because he chose to resign from the prominent law firm Greenberg Traurig so he could represent Trump pro bono.
Miller said that Giuliani was acting as a friend.
“Based on a 30-year relationship with Mr. Trump, he was asked to serve in his capacity without compensation,” Miller told the judge. “Mrs. Giuliani has a profession [but] she doesn’t work. She’s much younger than my client. She could work. She chooses not to.”
Clair alleged that Giuliani spent about $900,000 over five months since Nathan filed for divorce, including $12,000 on cigars and $7,000 on pens.
Giuliani implicated in money laundering scheme: While Giuliani's divorce proceeds, a human rights group asked officials in Europe to investigate a multi-billion money laundering operation they said was aided by Giuliani and his law firm, according to DC Report.
“The complaint is clearly aimed at examining how much money stolen from a former Soviet satellite ended up benefitting Trump. He is named 16 times in the complaint’s footnotes,” Pulitzer-Prize winner David Cay Johnston reported. “The complaint describes 'one of the biggest fraud cases ever' in which 'some of these money flows ultimately ended up in the Netherlands because 'Dutch service providers helped to cover up the money laundering acts.'”
“The money was subsequently invested in real estate projects in the United States and Europe, after which it was paid out as ‘profits’ via – once again – a network of shell companies,” the complaint says, adding that some of the money was “run through Dutch shell corporations with help from Rudy Giuliani’s old law firm, Bracewell & Giuliani.”
