Giuliani ordered to hand over New York apartment to defamed election staff
Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani has been ordered by a United States judge to turn over his apartment, jewellery and other valuable possessions to a pair of election workers whom he defamed.
On Tuesday, US District Judge Lewis Liman, sitting in Manhattan, called for the transfer to occur in the next seven days, to pay the millions in damages owed to the election workers.
Giuliani, who for many years served as a personal lawyer to Donald Trump, helped spread baseless rumours of voter fraud after the ex-president’s defeat in the 2020 presidential race.
Last year, a court found that Giuliani had defamed Ruby Freeman and her daughter Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, by falsely accusing them of rigging votes in the pivotal swing state of Georgia.
A federal jury said the 80-year-old should pay the two women a total of $148m. Giuliani, a Republican who made a brief presidential run in 2008, has since tried to file for bankruptcy, but that case was dismissed.
That paved the way for the two women to try to collect money from Giuliani. He has since appealed the bankruptcy ruling.
Wandrea ‘Shaye’ Moss and her mother Ruby Freeman were the targets of death threats after the 2020 election [File/Michael Reynolds/Reuters]
Among the items named in Tuesday’s decision was Giuliani’s New York flat, a 1980 Mercedes once owned by actress Lauren Bacall, dozens of watches and a portion of his sports memorabilia.
Those items will be put into a receivership controlled by the two election workers.
The judge did not, for now, order Giuliani to hand over several New York Yankees World Series rings he allegedly received as a gift, or his Florida apartment.
Yet, the judge did give the election workers permission to go after almost $2m in unpaid legal fees Giuliani said he was owed from the Trump campaign.
“We are proud that our clients will finally begin to receive some of the compensation to which they are entitled for Giuliani’s actions,” Aaron Nathan, a lawyer for Freeman and Moss, said in a statement.
The decision by the judge comes just two weeks before the 2024 presidential election.
Trump and his associates have continued to falsely claim the 2020 election was rigged and Trump has hinted he may not accept the results of the upcoming election either.
Moss and Freeman testified they were harassed and made the target of death threats after Giuliani levelled the accusations at them.
Giuliani is facing legal cases in Arizona and Georgia over his alleged actions. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Even today, many Republicans believe the 2020 contest was not fair and many have expressed doubts over whether next month’s election will be.
Republican candidates, along with Trump, have called for a huge turnout from supporters, claiming they can make the results “too big to rig”.
There was no immediate reaction to the court’s decision from Giuliani, who served as New York City’s mayor from 1994 to 2001.
The longtime lawyer has been disbarred in New York.