Former Georgia election workers can go after Giuliani’s assets immediately, judge says
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani departs the U.S. District Courthouse after he was ordered to pay $148 million in his defamation case in Washington
By Katelyn Polantz, CNN
(CNN) — Two Georgia election workers recently awarded nearly $150 million by a jury for the harm caused by defamatory statements Rudy Giuliani made about them following the 2020 election can begin trying to collect from him immediately, according to a new court order.
Typically, the women who had sued Giuliani and won would have to wait 30 days to begin attempting to claim his assets in other states. But Judge Beryl Howell of the DC District Court, who oversaw the high-profile trial last week, gave Shaye Moss and Ruby Freeman’s attorneys the ability to attempt to collect on Wednesday.
Giuliani, Howell noted, had escaped revealing his worth by refusing to turn over evidence he had in the case before trial, never acknowledged previous court orders for him to reimburse the women for his attorneys’ fee, repeatedly claimed he’s broke and the verdict would severely hurt him, and yet still had support to help him in recent months.
“Giuliani’s persistent refusal to respond to plaintiffs’ discovery requests precluded plaintiffs from testing the veracity of Giuliani’s claimed, ‘financial difficulties,’” Howell wrote in the opinion Wednesday. “Such claims of Giuliani’s ‘financial difficulties’—no matter how many times repeated or publicly disseminated and duly reported in the media—are difficult to square with the fact that Giuliani affords a spokesperson, who accompanied him daily to trial.”
Moss and Freeman’s team have already identified assets Giuliani has in New York and Florida, such as properties in both states, according to court documents. His New York co-op apartment has been listed for sale at more than $6.1 million, and Moss and Freeman’s lawyers have also noted he has a new deal for a Newsmax streaming show that may indicate some income, in addition to other media appearances he makes.
The former New York City mayor was found liable this summer for defamation against Freeman and Moss after failing to respond to parts of their lawsuit. The mother and daughter claimed in their case that they have suffered emotional and reputational harm, and have had their safety put in danger after Giuliani singled them out when he made false claims of ballot tampering in Georgia.
The legal teams agreed on final numbers and terms earlier this week, in the wake of the jury decision. Giuliani agreed the court’s final judgment would make clear he owes the women $146 million, plus more than $237,000 for attorneys’ fees. The agreement slightly reduced the jury verdict because Moss and Freeman previously settled another part of their lawsuit, against One America News Network and others.
The women have sued Giuliani a second time to ask a federal judge to permanently prohibit him from lying about them as he has continued to make false statements about their work as absentee ballot counters in the 2020 election.
More than a dozen statements Giuliani made about them, accusing the women of tampering with votes as they counted ballots, were found to be false and defamatory.
This story has been updated with additional details.
CNN’s Jack Forrest contributed to this report.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
