Giuliani bankruptcy creditors fire off subpoenas to try to establish whether Trump owes him money

Creditors in disgraced former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s bankruptcy case have issued subpoenas to his associates to try to determine whether his former client Donald Trump owes him money, as the ex-mayor has previously claimed.

The Committee of Unsecured Creditors — individuals and entities that Mr Giuliani owes — served more than a dozen subpoenas on Friday in an effort to recover his assets. Mr Giuliani filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after beinghit with a massive $148m verdict for defaming two election workers.

The former Trump lawyer listed a “possible claim for unpaid legal fees against Donald J Trump” in a January bankruptcy court filing. The following month, he elaborated in a hearing that he is owed $2m in unpaid wages for a spurious legal battle to overturn election results in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election.

However, Mr Giuliani underscored that the money isowed not by Mr Trump himself, but by either Trump’s campaign and/or the Republican National Committee. He also suggested that the arrangement was made verbally, calling it a “word-of-mouth situation.”

The Independent previously reported that the creditors’ committee is “discussing” taking legal action against Mr Trump to recover this $2m — a move that Mr Giuliani has said he does not want to take.

Now, the creditors’ committee has issued subpoenas to obtain documentation to substantiate the unpaid wages claim.

Robert Costello, Mr Giuliani’s former lawyer, was among those requested for information.

The subpoena to Mr Costello asks for information regarding any “negotiations, arrangements, or agreements” between Mr Giuliani, Mr Trump, his campaign, any legal defence fund for Mr Trump, and the Republican National Committee.

Mr Costello