Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani says he regrets not taking a pension, The New York Post reports.
Giuliani, who recently filed for bankruptcy after a $146 million defamation ruling against him, did not apply for post-office benefits during his two terms as mayor.
The Post noted that had Giuliani applied for the benefits he would have been eligible for about $26,000 in annual payments after turning 62, which translates to about $442,000 in the last 17 years.
Asked why he didn’t take a pension, Giuliani said, “giving back to the city I love. Although I would like to take it now.”
“I don’t know how to go about it,” he added.
Giuliani also isn’t receiving a federal pension for his work as Manhattan’s US Attorney and other government employment, The Post reported.
“This might have seemed like chump change to someone like him who left City Hall with multi-million-dollar book deals, but I bet he wishes he had [pension payments] now,” a former top NYC official said. “In his situation, every penny helps.”
Giuliani filed for bankruptcy earlier this month after he was ordered to pay $146 million in damages to two former Georgia election workers he falsely accused of committing fraud in the 2020 election.
He listed his existing debts at nearly $152 million, including almost $1 million in state and federal tax liabilities, money owe to lawyers and debts from various lawsuits he has incurred from Hunter Biden, his former employee Noelle Dunphy who accuses him of sexual harassment and wage theft and voting machine companies Smartmatic and Dominion.
