Like Rudy Giuliani himself, the company he has partnered with for his new coffee venture is in bankruptcy amid its own brewing financial woes.
And attorneys for Giuliani's creditors have been examining where the business funds are going, the Daily Beast reported Saturday.
Giuliani's business partner — Burke Brands of Florida, which is already known for its Don Pablo coffee — filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December 2022 (a year before Giuliani).
Then just last month the company sought to modify a court-approved plan to pay back hundreds of thousands of dollars to creditors in two large installments, and instead asked to make monthly payments, the Beast reported.
Giuliani drew widespread online ridicule after he appeared in a promotional video last month for his touted new Rudy Coffee even as he struggled to fend off his creditors in bankruptcy court. He declared bankruptcy after he was ordered to pay $148 million to Georgia election workers in a defamation case he lost.
He gushed that drinking his coffee would not only deliver a jolt of caffeine (except in the decaf version), but would also be fighting for "truth, justice and American democracy" by apparently putting money in his pocket.
Soon after Giuiliani's coffee video was posted, news of the deal reached lawyers for the creditors of the former New York mayor, and they quickly subpoenaed Burke Brands for details of the business arrangement.
Under the deal, Giuliani was to receive "80% of the net profit from each sale of Rudy Coffee," with funds not directed to Giuliani's creditors, but to a Missouri-based bank account for Giuliani Communications LLC, according to the Daily Beast.
A lawyer for Burke Brands insisted that the fact both his client and Giuliani were in Chapter 11 bankruptcy was "completely coincidental."
Regardless of the apparent mess, a spokesman for Rudy Coffee insisted that bags of Guililiani's coffee are already "flying off the shelves."
