Rudy Giuliani didn't get anywhere close to major discount he sought even after the judge and forensic financial advisor reduced bankruptcy fees

Former Mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani arrives at the federal courthouse in Washington, D.C. in December 2023 (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana).

Rudy Giuliani's quest to cut down hundreds of thousands in bankruptcy fees by nearly half has not gone on in his favor, even after he claimed to be "overbilled" and even after the judge in the case and the forensic financial advisor both reduced the amount of money owed.

A Friday filing from Global Data Risk noted that the prior ask of $324,843.75 in fees was dropping down to $300,480.47, as a consequence of the objections of the U.S. Trustee's Office and U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane's decision.

"In response to objections that the United States Trustee raised informally, GDR agreed to voluntarily reduce its fees by $7,562.50. The Court reduced the total fees to be paid by an additional $16,800.78," a footnote detailed.

While a reduction of $24,363.28 is better than nothing for Giuliani's purposes, it's a far cry from what he wanted.

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In August, Global Data Risk filed its fee application and demanded $324,843.75 for "1,181.25 hours of services" and $6,854.29 more in expenses racked up over the course of the bankruptcy, totaling the fee demand at that time at $331,698.04. In response, Giuliani filed documents looking to slice the professional fees he owes nearly in half, claiming that he was "overbilled" due to "duplicative time entries" and "excessive" research-related services. He asked for a reduction of $151,662.50 from the tab, a discount of roughly 46 percent.

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Global Data Risk insisted in reply that Giuliani "got an incredible deal" under the circumstances and yet he was still mounting "another baseless and bad faith crusade" to avoid paying up.

Why didn't Giuliani get the fee reduction he asked for? At a hearing last week, the judge reportedly remarked that Giuliani's own conduct in the bankruptcy was to blame.

"There was an alarming and inappropriate lack of financial transparency by the debtor … which led to the need for this work," Lane said, according to CNN.

In other words, had there been transparency there would have been no need for creditors — defamed Georgia 2020 election worker Shaye Moss, Dominion Voting Systems, and Noelle Dunphy — to hire Global Data Risk to investigate his finances, and there would have been no whopping fees.