After Rudy Giuliani didn’t show up to a Friday court hearing in Manhattan dealing with a legal challenge from his former wife Judith Nathan over hundreds of thousands of dollars she said she is owed in connection to the pair’s divorce, Giuliani was held in contempt of court by the judge, Michael Katz, and ordered to pay up or go to jail.
“If the amount is not paid by that date, I’m going to be forced — unfortunately because it’s not something I want to do — I’m going to be forced to remand the defendant into custody,” Katz said, according to the New York Post. Rudy has until October 7, two weeks from the missed hearing. Giuliani previously admitted that he owed Nathan, to whom he was married for some 15 years, money, but he of course pinned the amount at a much lower level. “There is no dispute that the judgment has not been complied with because the defendant admitted last time that he owes money,” the judge remarked. “He clearly has failed to meet his obligations.” According to the Post, the total amount Giuliani is now required to pay is $225,442 alongside an additional $10,000 covering legal fees. Nathan originally claimed Giuliani was liable for $262,000 in missed payments, and he has already paid $45,000 — which, with extra calculations apparently in there, brings the total to near what Katz granted.
Notably, part of the problem for Rudy was that he didn’t show up or make the requisite filings in court, and the judge subsequently issued a default judgment against him. In a discussion of his failures to abide by deadlines for court filings at a September 8 hearing before Katz, Giuliani told the judge: “The only thing I can tell you is that, it’s not much of an excuse, but I’m being sued in 10 different cases.” It doesn’t seem as though Rudy ever comprehensively fixed the problem — instead, he didn’t even file evidence supporting his version of events, meaning how much money he said he owed in contrast to Nathan’s claims. “The defendant has chosen not to submit any proof to this court,” Katz said during Friday’s proceedings. “Unfortunately, I’m constrained to find him in contempt.”
