Rudy Giuliani’s ex-lawyers are suing the former New York City mayor for failing to pay the $1.36 million legal fees they charged while representing him in numerous controversies — several of which were related to the Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the election.
Robert J. Costello, a longtime friend of Giuliani, and his law firm Davidoff Hutcher & Citron LLP filed the complaint Monday in a state court in Manhattan.
The new lawsuit adds to the list of legal issues the former Trump attorney has had to pay his own way through. Giuliani is facing charges in Georgia and surrendered to police at a Fulton County jail last month on charges that he helped conspire with Trump to overturn the election by lying to state lawmakers and spreading disinformation about election fraud. A week later, a federal judge found him liable for defaming two Georgia election workers.
And now his old counsel is turning on him, accusing him of not paying all the money he owes them for representing him during this legal battle. Giuliani has already paid the firm — which he employed under a retainer agreement that he claims he broke — $214,000, with his last payment coming in the amount of $10,000 on September 14, according to the filing. In total, the company charged him $1.57 million between 2019 and 2023.
“I cannot express how personally hurt I am by what Bob Costello did,” Giuliani said in a statement to POLITICO. “It’s really a shame when lawyers do this kind of thing, and all I’m saying is that their bill is far higher than anything even close to legitimate fees.”
Insider first reported the lawsuit on Monday.
While Trump has millions of dollars in various pots to help finance his legal battle, including a significant amount coming from his campaign accounts, the former mayor does not. Since leaving office, Giuliani has made money from various consulting and legal ventures. But after helping represent Trump in court when the former president tried to overturn the 2020 voting results, a state court in New York suspended his law license. In a possible harbinger of financial trouble, Giuliani put his $6.5 million apartment on the market this summer as his lawyers claimed in court that he was “nearly bankrupt.” He currently hosts a podcast called “Common Sense” and a daily radio show.
Josh Gerstein contributed to this report.
