Rudy Giuliani was suspended from New York City talk radio station WABC and his daily show was canceled on Friday after he violated company policy by questioning the legitimacy of the 2020 election, the New York Times reported—cutting off a source of income for Giuliani months after he filed for bankruptcy.
WABC’s owner reportedly said Rudy Giuliani continued to violate company policy by questioning the ... [+]
WABC’s owner, billionaire John Catsimatidis, told the Times Giuliani repeatedly violated the station’s policy when he “talk(ed) about fallacies of the November 2020 election” despite multiple warnings to stop.
Catsimatidis also said Giuliani texted him saying “that he refuses not to talk about it,” leading to his suspension from one of his only remaining sources of income.
Giuliani made about $400,000 a year from WABC, the Times reported last year, citing an anonymous source.
Giuliani’s radio show aired every weekday and on Sundays on WABC and he used it to share his thoughts on current happenings like Trump’s trial and the war between Israel and Hamas.
Giuliani’s ties to false 2020 election claims are well-known: He was recently indicted in Arizona for his alleged role in a scheme to overturn the election, and he also faces charges in Georgia and is believed to be “co-conspirator 1” in a federal indictment charging former President Donald Trump with election interference.
Forbes has reached out to Catsimatidis and Giuliani for comment.
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Giuliani is the former mayor of New York City, and helped lead the Trump campaign’s unsuccessful effort to overturn the 2020 election. He’s one of a number of people facing charges because of the effort to overturn the election results. His law license was suspended in 2021 and there are proceedings to determine whether he should be fully disbarred. He has pleaded not guilty in Georgia and not yet been arraigned in Arizona. Giuliani’s mounting legal challenges have caused him great financial trouble, leading him to file for bankruptcy in December and report between $1 million and $10 million in assets but $153 million in liabilities. A jury ordered him to pay $148 million in civil penalties last year for defaming two election workers in Georgia he falsely accused of voter fraud. He was also sued by his attorney for unpaid legal fees, and has been ordered to pay attorney’s fees in the election worker defamation case.
We estimate Catsimatidis—who has owned WABC since 2019—to have a net worth of $4.3 billion as of Friday afternoon, making him the 750th wealthiest person in the world.