NEW YORK CITY—A federal judge on Nov. 7 set a Nov. 11 deadline for the transfer of some of former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani’s assets from his Palm Beach property to the law firm representing plaintiffs in the defamation suit against him.
Judge Lewis Liman had previously set an Oct. 29 deadline for the transfer of Giuliani’s valuables.
The former mayor received a subpoena to appear in the federal court building in lower Manhattan to address the lack of progress in completing the transfer.
During the Thursday hearing, Aaron Nathan—a litigator at the firm of Willkie Farr & Gallagher representing the two women Giuliani stands convicted of defaming—and Kenneth Caruso, Giuliani’s lawyer, gave different reasons for delays in paying the nearly $150 million judgment against him.
In Dec. 2023, a jury in a Washington courtroom convicted the former mayor and came down in favor of a nearly $150 million penalty against Giuliani for having suggested on social media that Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, a mother and daughter, had illegally tampered with voting devices during the 2020 presidential election.
The two women sued the former mayor in Dec. 2021, saying that the public accusation was false and had caused them emotional distress, reputational harm, and put their physical safety in danger.
Days after the adverse judgment was issued, Giuliani filed for Chapter 11 protection.
Last month, Liman ordered Giuliani to hand over his Manhattan apartment and all his other valuables to the plaintiffs.
While vowing to fight the judgment and have it overturned, Caruso has challenged aspects of the transfer order on technical legal grounds.
In his oral arguments during the Nov. 7 hearing, Caruso called it “vindictive” for the prosecution to ask Giuliani to give up a watch that once belonged to the former mayor’s grandfather.
This prompted a rebuke from Liman, who told Caruso that New York law makes no distinction between items of sentimental value and items lacking any such value when it comes to satisfying a lawful judgment.
The judge stated that he had an order from a Washington court, registered in his court, that mandated the transfer of assets to satisfy the defamation judgment, and that would guide his rulings.
Nathan, the Willkie Farr & Gallagher attorney, said the defense hasn’t been transparent or cooperative.
Logistics
During the hearing, the lawyers engaged in contentious exchanges with the judge about the location and value of certain of Giuliani’s assets. These included real estate, cars, jewelry, watches, and money.At one point, the judge grew irritated with what he saw as vague and evasive answers on the part of the defense.
“The notion that your client doesn’t have any notion of where his assets are is farcical,” Liman told Caruso.
Giuliani spoke briefly on his own behalf and criticized what he saw as overly aggressive questioning directed at people close to him about his assets.
“Some of the questions are inappropriate, because of the way people have been treated,” Giuliani said.
The judge maintained that the former mayor had not offered a legally material pretext for evading a question about his assets.
“Nobody is going to exercise self-help. You’re going to answer that question fully and truthfully. Do you understand that?” the judge said, before overruling the former mayor’s objection.
Caruso acknowledged that items of value, among them jewelry and watches, including the watch that once belonged to Giuliani’s grandfather, are currently in Palm Beach, Florida, and nothing is impeding their transfer.
But other miscellaneous items of value are now in a storage facility in Ronkonkoma, New York. Caruso said his client is currently unable to get items out of that Long Island storage facility.
Neither Willkie Farr & Gallagher nor Giuliani’s legal team responded by publication time to a request for comment.
