Full-time Florida residents and snowbirds aren’t the only ones having trouble obtaining insurance on their condominiums. Rudy Giuliani, the former New York Mayor and longtime attorney for Donald Trump, has told a bankruptcy judge that he can’t afford to pay premiums on his Palm Beach condo.
That’s not good enough for some creditors who say Giuliani, facing a $148 million defamation judgment against him, should take immediate steps to protect the property until it can be sold. Creditors filed a motion last week, asking the judge for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Southern New York to force Giuliani to sell the condo and insure it in the meantime.
“The Debtor has chosen to avail himself of the protections of the Bankruptcy Code to obtain a breathing spell from his creditors, but in return he must exercise due care in protecting his assets and avoiding loss, since these are the assets that he, as a debtor in possession, is holding in trust for his creditors,” reads the motion by the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors.
Giuliani at a news conference in January (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)
“…The Committee respectfully requests that this Court compel the Debtor to take all necessary steps to sell the Florida Condo and obtain homeowners insurance in order to preserve and protect estate resources and abide by his duty to maximize the value of the estate for the benefit of his creditors,” the motion continues.
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A hearing date of April 4 has been proposed to consider the motion.
The condo at South Lake Drive is valued at $3.5 million, according to Giuliani’s asset listing in bankruptcy court, although the local tax assessor says it’s more like $3 million, according to news reports. The creditors argue that the condo, less than mile from the Atlantic Ocean, is one of Giuliani’s most valuable assets. The Internal Revenue Service also had filed a lien on the property, seeking almost $550,000 in unpaid income taxes. The former Trump adviser has indicated he’s agreed to pay the taxes he owes, news outlets have reported.
Giuliani filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December after he was hit with the $148 million verdict for defaming two Georgia election workers that he claimed had committed fraud during the counting of 2020 presidential election ballots. Now, he has said he has few assets available and cannot pay property insurance premiums on the Palm Beach spread.
The court filings did not indicate the level of premiums Giuliani could be facing on the property, or which insurers may have written the condo in previous years. But he’s far from alone in struggling with soaring insurance costs in the distressed Florida condo insurance market. Some insurance brokers and condo association representatives this year implored the Florida Legislature to allow the state-created Citizens Property Insurance Corp. to write condominiums that include short-term rental units. Many insurers have cut back drastically on HO-6 policy limits while premiums have more than quadrupled for some associations.
Allstate Insurance’s Florida unit, Castle Key Indemnity, recently raised condo rates almost 54% on average, in a use-and-file filing that regulators are still contemplating. At least one new carrier, part of HCI Group, has been approved to enter the condo market this year.
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The Citizens-coverage-for-second-homes bill did not pass in the Florida legislative session that closed March 9. But under another measure, if signed by the governor, surplus lines insurers can soon make takeout offers on Citizens’ policies that cover second homes in Florida. It’s also possible that Giuliani could reduce his condo premiums if his association participates in a new wind-mitigation pilot program expected to be signed into law in the next few weeks.
By law, Giuliani’s creditors may be unable to force him to sell his primary residence in New York, although that space also needs insurance coverage, creditors said. But the committee of creditors has argued that his Florida condo is used less than 30% of the time, making it a non-primary residence and fair game to be sold (but insured in the meantime).
Giuliani may have little choice in coming weeks. The U.S. bankruptcy code and guidelines require that the debtor “maintain appropriate insurance coverage” equal to the fair-market value of the condo. Otherwise, the court must convert the property or dismiss the Chapter 11 filing, the creditors argued in their motion.
“As property of the estate, the value of the Florida Condo ultimately will be distributed to the Debtor’s creditors,” the filing notes. “As a result, it is merely a matter of when, not if, the Debtor will have to sell the Florida Condo in order to distribute the proceeds thereof to creditors in satisfaction of their claims.”
Besides taxes, Giuliani owes millions to his attorneys, accountants, plaintiffs in lawsuits against him, including voting machine companies that he allegedly defamed, and others, court documents show.
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Photo: Giuliani’s condo building in Palm Beach (Google Streetview)
A white Florida woman who fatally shot a Black neighbor through her front door during an ongoing dispute over the neighbor’s boisterous children was sentenced Monday to 25 years in prison for her manslaughter conviction.
Susan Lorincz, 60, was convicted in August of killing 35-year-old Ajike “A.J.” Owens by firing a single shot from her .380-caliber handgun in June 2023.
The shooting was the culmination of a long-running argument between the two neighbors over Owens’ children playing in a grassy area near both of their houses in Ocala, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) northwest of Orlando.
Prosecutors said Owens had come to Lorincz’s home after her children complained that she had thrown roller skates and an umbrella at them, which Lorincz denied. Trial testimony showed Owens, a mother of four young children, was pounding on Lorincz’s door and yelling, leading Lorincz to claim self-defense in shooting her neighbor.
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Lorincz told detectives in a videotaped interview that she feared for her life. She also said she had been harassed for most of the three years she lived in the neighborhood.
“I thought I was in imminent danger,” she said.
Jurors did not agree with her self-defense claim.
Owens’ family pushed for the maximum prison sentence after Lorincz was convicted by an all-white jury.
“While the pain of losing Ajike, we are hopeful that justice will prevail and that the court will give Susan Lorincz the maximum penalty for her actions,” said Owens’ mother, Pamela Dias, in an email statement before Monday’s sentencing. “Ajike’s legacy will live on through her children, and we will continue to fight for justice.”
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Lorincz’s attorney, Assistant Public Defender Amanda Sizemore, sought a more lenient sentence, an unspecified term below the 11.5 years in prison that is the lowest for her crime under state guidelines. Sizemore said in court documents that there are several reasons to justify a downward departure, including a mental disorder and claims that Owens was the aggressor and under “extreme duress” during the confrontation.
There were protests in the Black community in Ocala when prosecutors took weeks to charge Lorincz with manslaughter, a lesser count than second-degree murder, which carries a potential life prison sentence. Marion County, which includes Ocala, has a Black population of about 12%, according to census figures.
It’s been a good couple weeks for Florida Gators head coach Billy Napier. He’s picked up two long-awaited SEC wins. One is his first win over LSU and another is his first top-10 win since the Gators beat No. 7 Utah in his first game as their head coach.
ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg made sure to give him some love in their college football Week 13 takeaways.
He considers Napier, along with Oklahoma’s Brent Venables and Auburn’s Hugh Freeze to have further redeemed themselves with big wins on Saturday.
“But Napier, Venables and Freeze all strengthened their profiles and elevated hope for the future by leading their teams to signature wins in Week 13.”
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Rittenberg was impressed by Florida’s continuing to bend but not break on defense and the performance of true freshman quarterback DJ Lagway. This all culminated in what could have spoiled Ole Miss’ playoff ambitions.
“Napier, whose Florida team had outclassed LSU the week before in The Swamp, likely eliminated Ole Miss from CFP contention with an excellent second half. A Gators defense that struggled early allowed only three points in the final 39 minutes and intercepted Jaxson Dart twice in the closing minutes, and Florida got impressive play from its own young quarterback, DJ Lagway.”
Napier was also given credit for having shown “real signs of promise before Week 13.”
Florida took No. 8 Tennessee to overtime, losing 23-17. But more impressively took Georgia down to the wire despite Lagway being carted off with a hamstring injury. While the final score was 34-20, those who watched know that it was a one-score game until about four minutes to go. That gave Florida props, but now he’s beaten ranked opponents.
Now, Florida has a shot to finish with its first winning record since 2020 and win its first bowl game since 2019.
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Rittenberg concluded his takes by saying Napier, along with Vernables and Freeze, has given “tangible evidence to cite that better days might be ahead.”
Western Carolina Catamounts (2-2) at Florida State Seminoles (6-1)
Tallahassee, Florida; Tuesday, 7 p.m. EST
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BOTTOM LINE: Western Carolina plays Florida State after Cord Stansberry scored 20 points in Western Carolina’s 82-69 loss to the Wake Forest Demon Deacons.
The Seminoles are 3-1 on their home court. Florida State is 5-1 when it wins the turnover battle and averages 12.4 turnovers per game.
Western Carolina finished 11-8 in SoCon action and 10-6 on the road a season ago. The Catamounts averaged 11.3 assists per game on 28.2 made field goals last season.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
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