Former Trump lawyer and New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani has been disbarred in the Empire State after he was found to have made repeated false statements about the 2020 election.
The 31-page ruling issued Tuesday by the Appellate Division, First Department states that Giuliani “is disbarred from the practice of law, effective immediately, and until the further order of this Court, and his name stricken from the roll of attorneys and counselors-at-law in the State of New York.”
It adds: “The disciplinary charges stem from the allegations that respondent communicated demonstrably false and misleading statements to courts, lawmakers, and the public at large in his capacity as lawyer for former President Donald J. Trump and the Trump campaign in connection with Trump’s failed effort at reelection in 2020.
“These false statements were made to improperly bolster respondent’s narrative that due to widespread voter fraud, victory in the 2020 United States presidential election was stolen from his client.”
Retired Judge Barry Kamins, who represented Giuliani during the proceedings, said in a statement to the New York Law Journal that Giuliani “is obviously disappointed in the decision and we are weighing our appellate options.”
Giuliani’s New York law license was suspended in June 2021 after the division ruled that Giualini’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump constituted a threat to the public interest, democracy, as well as the legal profession.
The 80-year-old has faced increasing legal and financial jeopardy in the last few years – he was indicted in Arizona in May along with 17 other defendants for supposedly being a part of a scheme to overturn Trump’s 2020 loss in the state.
In December, he filed for bankruptcy after a defamation judgment against him for damages of $148m after he made false claims about election workers in 2020.
Giuliani is the subject of several legal actions in New York State, such as a $10m complaint from an alleged former staffer who has accused him of wage theft and sexual assault and that he was selling pardons for $2m. But many of the actions against him were stayed following his bankruptcy ruling. Giuliani has rejected the allegations.
The former mayor is also involved in disciplinary proceedings in the nation’s capital – a Washington DC disciplinary committee has recommended that he be disbarred.
Giuliani is also the subject of criminal charges in Georgia where a district attorney argues that he played a role in a plot to overturn the 2020 election results in the state.
The ruling disbarring Giuliani says that he “told numerous lies in numerous forums all designed to create distrust of the elective system of our country in the minds of its citizens and to destroy their confidence in the legitimacy of our government. This behavior has done immeasurable damage to our democracy.”
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