Rudy Giuliani’s former attorney has filed a lawsuit against the former New York mayor, alleging that he owes more than $1.3 million in unpaid legal fees.
In a legal document filed Monday, Robert Costello and his firm, Davidoff Hutcher & Citron LLP, said Giuliani had so far paid only $214,000 of what he owed for more than three years’ worth of legal representation, leaving $1.36 million outstanding.
Costello — a veteran New York City attorney — said he represented Giuliani in a range of cases between November 2019 and July 2023, including ones related to President Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn his loss in the 2020 presidential race. Costello’s lawsuit represents a further blow to Giuliani, who faces charges in Georgia that he illegally conspired to overturn the presidential election results in that state.
“I can’t express how personally hurt I am by what Bob Costello has done,” Giuliani said in a statement released by his spokesperson Monday, according to the Associated Press. “It’s a real shame when lawyers do things like this, and all I will say is that their bill is way in excess to anything approaching legitimate fees.”
The filing represents the latest in a series of mounting legal and financial challenges for Giuliani, who served as Trump’s lawyer for years. Earlier this month, Trump hosted a $100,000-per-person fundraiser to help Giuliani cover legal fees, the Associated Press reported, with Guiliani’s son saying the event was expected to raise more than $1 million.
According to the lawsuit filed Monday, Costello represented Giuliani during special counsel Jack Smith’s criminal investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, as well as in the criminal case in Georgia, where Giuliani surrendered last month on 13 felony charges.
Costello also represented Giuliani in a House select committee’s investigation into the insurrection, as well as more than 10 civil cases, the filing said, in addition to disciplinary proceedings in both the District of Columbia and the First Department of New York, where Giuliani could lose his legal license.
Giuliani, who rose to global prominence as New York mayor in the aftermath of 9/11, has become entangled in a web of legal proceedings stemming from his role in trying to reverse Trump’s 2020 election loss.
In August, he surrendered in Georgia on charges including conspiring to make false statements, file false documents and commit forgery. Both he and Trump face 13 charges there, more than any of the 17 other individuals indicted in the case.
The same month, a judge in Georgia found Giuliani liable for defaming two election workers, who he falsely claimed had tampered with the election results. He has already been ordered to pay roughly $132,000 for failing to hand over relevant information and still faces trial in D.C. federal court to determine the amount of damages he owes.
