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A Hamptons, N.Y., estate that once listed for $150 million before falling into bankruptcy was sold at auction Wednesday for $88.5 million, NBCNewYork.com reported. The four-acre estate in Southampton, New York, known as La Dune, was sold by Concierge Auctions at a starting bid of $66 million. The property was sold in two parts — one house sold for $40.5 million and the other for $38.5 million. The buyer premium brings the total sale to $88.5 million. The property, once the most expensive listing the Hamptons and famed for an appearance in the Woody Allen film "Interiors," had been on and off the market since 2016. It was most recently listed in 2022 at $150 million. Last year, the two properties on the compound were put into chapter 11 bankruptcy after a foreclosure judgement. The previous owner, Louise Blouin, purchased the property in the 1990s for $13.5 million. She spent millions building a second mansion on the property in 2001, adding to the existing mansion, which was built in the 1890s.

A bankruptcy judge on Friday granted Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor and ex-lawyer for Donald Trump, permission to challenge a $148 million defamation verdict, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Giuliani filed for chapter 11 protection last month in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, after a federal district court ordered him to pay the damages to Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and her daughter Shaye Moss. They had sued Giuliani for defamation after he accused them of meddling with President Trump’s 2020 election results in the state. Earlier this month, Giuliani asked the bankruptcy court for permission to allow him to take steps to fight or reduce the $148 million judgment, to potentially seek a new trial in district court, and, if need be, to file an appeal. Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane on Friday agreed to Giuliani’s request to seek a new trial or to ask that the damages be reduced. Lane, however, stopped short of granting Giuliani permission to seek a full appeal. Lane stressed that the district court should have much discretion in deciding how to handle or whether to grant the request.

Former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani may soon find out how far chapter 11 bankruptcy can go in sheltering him from overwhelming legal bills, Bloomberg News reported. Giuliani is scheduled to make his first appearance Friday in New York bankruptcy court, where he has asked a judge’s permission to challenge the $148 million judgment that drove him to seek protection from creditors. The hearing is slated for 11 a.m. The onetime prosecutor went bankrupt last month after losing a defamation lawsuit to two 2020 Georgia election workers he falsely accused of trying to rig the election for Joe Biden. Giuliani must ask Judge Sean Lane permission to appeal their $148 million award because filing bankruptcy pauses all litigation against him and prevents the election workers from immediately collecting the judgment. The election workers and others who have sued Giuliani, including Dominion Voting Systems, are challenging his request.