Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani has suffered another blow as his former longtime friend and attorney signed a lawsuit seeking $1.4 million in unpaid legal fees.
Robert Costello and his law firm Davidoff Hutcher & Citron LLP say Giuliani only paid them $214,000 and still has a bill of $1.36 million. Giuliani’s last payment was $10,000 on Sept. 14, according to the lawsuit – about a week after Trump hosted a $100,000-a-plate fundraiser for Giuliani at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
The legal fees are largely related to Giuliani’s attempts to keep Donald Trump in office after his defeat in the 2020 presidential election. It was previously reported that Giuliani “begged” Trump to pay his legal bills during a meeting at Mar-a-Lago over the summer.
Giuliani told the New York Times that Costello’s actions “hurt him personally.” “It really is a disgrace when lawyers do things like this and all I can say is that their bill goes way beyond anything even remotely legitimate,” he added.
The couple first met when Costello was in law school and working for Giuliani’s federal prosecutor’s office in Manhattan. The Brooklyn native gained his reputation by taking down some of the biggest figures in the Big Apple’s criminal underworld.
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani is being sued by his lawyers for $1.4 million in unpaid fees
Giuliani was represented by Robert Costello in matters ranging from investigations into Ukraine dealings to investigations related to the 2020 election
Costello disputed Giuliani’s claims that he was overcharged and said his complaints about pricing only surfaced after the lawsuit was filed.
“He’s a little late to this party, it’s too late for this frivolous claim as he will find out in court,” Costello said.
Costello, a partner at Davidoff Hutcher & Citron, was Giuliani’s attorney from November 2019 to July 2023.
In separate remarks to CBS News, Costello said Giuliani has received invoices since 2019 and has not paid them.
“I’m sorry that he took the detour because he’s desperate,” he told the station.
“In violation of the Retainer Agreement, Defendant failed to pay Plaintiffs the balance of $1,360,196.10 of the total amount owed, despite being properly requested,” a section of the lawsuit states.
If the lawsuit is successful, in addition to the nearly $1.4 million, Giuliani will also have to pay the firm’s legal fees for filing the lawsuit.
He represented Giuliani in matters ranging from an investigation into his business dealings in Ukraine that led to an FBI raid on his home and office in April 2021 to state and federal investigations into his work following Trump’s election loss in 2020.
Costello and his firm said in their lawsuit that they also represented Giuliani in various civil suits filed against him and in disciplinary proceedings that resulted in the suspension of his law licenses in Washington, D.C. and New York.
Costello said Giuliani has been receiving invoices since 2019 and has not paid them
If the lawsuit is successful, in addition to the nearly $1.4 million, Giuliani will also have to pay the firm’s legal fees for filing the lawsuit
The former mayor isn’t the only Trump loyalist in Costello’s crosshairs; in February, the lawyer sued Steve Bannon over unpaid legal bills
The former mayor isn’t the only Trump loyalist in Costello’s crosshairs; in February, the lawyer sued Steve Bannon over unpaid legal bills. In that case, a New York judge ordered Trump’s former strategist to pay $500,000.
Giuliani, Trump and 17 others were indicted in Georgia last month. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis accused her of plotting to undermine Joe Biden’s election victory. Giuliani has pleaded not guilty to charges that he was Trump’s key co-conspirator.
Giuliani, who became known for his leadership skills and earned the nickname “Mayor of America” after 9/11, could face a massive fine after a judge last month found him liable in a defamation lawsuit brought by two Georgia election officials, they say , he falsely accused her of cheating.
The judge has already ordered Giuliani and his companies to pay more than $130,000 in legal fees for the women.
Giuliani’s son Andrew said last week that the Bedminster fundraiser was expected to raise more than $1 million for Giuliani’s legal battles and that Trump had committed to holding a second event later at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida , to be aligned in autumn or early winter.
Meanwhile, Giuliani is trying to raise money in other ways.
In July, he put his Manhattan apartment up for sale for $6.5 million. After his arraignment, he directed his social media followers to his legal defense fund’s website. To save money, Giuliani has represented himself in some legal disputes.
Last year, a judge threatened Giuliani with prison in a dispute over money owed to Judith, his third ex-wife. Giuliani said he was making progress toward paying off the debt, which she said totaled more than $260,000.
In May, a woman who said she worked for Giuliani sued him, saying he owed her nearly $2 million in unpaid wages and forced her to have sex. Giuliani denied the allegations.