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Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani has been ordered to hand over his Manhattan apartment, a Mercedes-Benz convertible, luxury watches and New York Yankees memorabilia to two Georgia poll workers he defamed in the wake of the 2020 election.
A federal judge on Tuesday ruled that the 80-year-old’s possessions had to be signed over to Ruby Freeman and Wandrea Moss to fulfil a nearly $150mn judgment in which Giuliani was found liable for falsely claiming the duo were engaged in electoral fraud.
Judge Lewis Liman in Manhattan gave Giuliani seven days to comply with the order. He allowed Giuliani to temporarily maintain ownership of a collection of World Series rings while the court considers a claim by his son Andrew that the memorabilia was gifted to him.
Tuesday’s order compounds Giuliani’s numerous legal and financial woes, most of which stem from his actions as Donald Trump’s personal attorney during and after the 2020 presidential election. The former mayor is facing criminal charges over alleged election interference in Georgia and Arizona, and several civil cases, including a sexual harassment claim.
Giuliani had initially attempted to shield his assets from Freeman and Moss and other creditors by filing for bankruptcy after they were awarded the defamation judgment. That petition was dismissed in July, however, after a federal judge found that he had “failed to provide an accurate and complete picture of his financial affairs in the six months that this case has been pending” and had “not even retained an accountant, which is the most rudimentary of steps”.
Soon after the dismissal, attorneys for Freeman and Moss filed for possession of assets they said were worth a total of roughly $10mn, including Giuliani’s Upper East Side apartment, a 1980 Mercedes previously owned by Lauren Bacall, memorabilia linked to the New York Yankees baseball team and more than 20 luxury watches.
Giuliani — who has now been disbarred from working as a lawyer in New York and Washington DC — was also ordered to turn over the value of unpaid invoices for his work for the Trump campaign in 2020.
Liman ridiculed Giuliani’s request that the turnover be postponed until after election day, citing the danger of a “media frenzy”.
“The profound irony manifest in Defendant’s alleged concern is not lost on the Court,” Liman wrote. “By his own admission, Defendant defamed Plaintiffs by perpetuating lies about them . . . Defendant’s lies cast unwarranted doubt on the integrity of the ballot-counting in Fulton County, Georgia in the immediate wake of the 2020 Presidential Election.”
A lawyer for Giuliani did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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