Rudy Giuliani struggles to find an accountant: ‘nobody seems interested’

“Nobody seems interested” in helping Rudy Giuliani meet accounting obligations in his ongoing bankruptcy case, lawyers for the former New York mayor, presidential hopeful and Trump attorney said in a court filing on Tuesday.

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“Unfortunately, the debtor originally had an accountant who was helping,” the filing said. “However, he had a change of heart and indicated that he no longer wished to help prepare the monthly operating reports.

“The debtor advised that he has reached out to a number of accounting firms and CPAs seeking their help, however, no one seems interested in taking the assignment.”

Giuliani was once a giant of US politics, mayor of New York on 9/11 and a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008. After that effort failed he went into the lucrative consulting business, but in recent years he has become something of a political pariah, in large part due to his work for and on behalf of Donald Trump and incidents of controversial behaviour.

A steadfast supporter throughout Trump’s successful 2016 campaign for president, Giuliani did not achieve his preferred award of an appointment as US secretary of state.

International work he did do on Trump’s behalf, seeking dirt on political rivals in Ukraine, fuelled Trump’s first impeachment.

In 2020, Giuliani’s work challenging election results in key states produced multiple courtroom defeats, mounting national hilarity, disbarment proceedings and, in Georgia, criminal charges in a case which also saw Trump indicted. Giuliani pleaded not guilty.

Giuliani filed for bankruptcy in New York in December last year, after being ordered to pay $148m in a defamation case brought by two Georgia poll workers he claimed were involved in election subversion during Trump’s defeat in the state in 2020.

Filings showed debts totaling $500m, after a downfall precipitous even by the standards of other Trump allies who have fallen from grace while the former president (and 88-times charged criminal defendant) has maintained his grip on Republican politics.

In January, Giuliani said in court filings he would live according to a strict budget. This month, the New York Times reported he had failed to do so “by a lot”, leaving creditors “suspicious and angry”.

Giuliani’s filing on Tuesday sought to explain why he had not filed a scheduled April report on his finances.

He “currently received social security benefits and broadcasts a radio show and podcast”, it said, adding: “These are his sole sources of income.”

Giuliani has claimed Trump owes him $2m in legal fees. Nonetheless, he continues to work on Trump’s behalf.

Giuliani is due to publish a book, The Biden Crime Family: The Blueprint for Their Prosecution, through an imprint linked to Steve Bannon, another close Trump ally. Release of the book has been repeatedly delayed. It is now due in September.

Related: Rudy Giuliani, once ‘America’s mayor’, had a very bad year | Lloyd Green

According to the filing on Tuesday, “any additional monies used to supplement” Giuliani’s income have come from savings exempt from the bankruptcy case.

Reports would be filed promptly in future, the filing said.

A spokesperson for Giuliani, Ted Goodman, told the Guardian in a statement late Tuesday night: “While it is true that the permanent Washington political class is leveraging all of its power and influence to bully and scare people from defending Americans who are willing to stand up and push back against the accepted narrative, Mayor Giuliani will be appropriately represented when it comes to his accounting and finances.”