A federal judge has ruled that former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani must immediately begin paying the $148 million to two former Georgia election workers who sued him for defamation.
In a ruling handed down on Wednesday, U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell sided with a request from the two workers, Ruby Freeman and Wandrea “Shay” Moss, who had argued that Mr. Giuliani did not have the financial means to pay them after a 30-day stay on the payouts was lifted.
Mr. Giuliani, who served as President Donald Trump’s legal adviser in 2020, is reportedly facing financial troubles.
The judge said Mr. Giuliani has“proven himself to be an unwilling and uncooperative litigant.”
“Second, as plaintiffs submit and as Giuliani does not contest, ‘Giuliani has numerous and mounting debts, including to his own attorneys and other litigants seeking to reduce their claims to judgment,’” the judge wrote.
Noting the mounting number of legal battles Mr. Giuliani and his businesses are currently facing, Judge Howell wrote that the potentially competing claims to his assets “raise the risk that Giuliani has even greater motivation to hide his financial assets from potential future judgments against him.”
The IRS claims Mr. Giuliani owes $549,435.26 in unpaid income taxes for 2021.
He is also among the 19 individuals, including President Trump, indicted by a grand jury in Fulton County, Georgia, in relation to their efforts challenging the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state.
“Giuliani feebly counters concerns about him hiding assets, stating that ’there is no evidence in the record of any attempt by [him] to dissipate assets.‘ This statement simply ignores the ample record in this case of Giuliani’s efforts to conceal or hide his assets by failing to comply with discovery requests, including ’plaintiffs’ requests for financial information,” the judge wrote.
“Notably, though he regularly speaks publicly about this case, Giuliani has never denied that he has taken steps to hide his assets from judgment creditors, and has offered no affirmative pledge that he will take no steps to do so, including in the next 30 days,” she added.
Wednesday’s ruling comes after a federal jury on Dec. 15 ordered Mr. Giuliani to pay Ms. Freeman and her daughter Ms. Moss $16,171,000 and $16,998,000, respectively, in compensatory damages and an additional $20 million each for intentional infliction of emotional distress.
The jury also ordered Mr. Giuliani to pay a further $75 million in punitive damages for both after finding the former New York City Mayor did defame the two Georgia election workers by accusing them of committing election fraud in 2020.
Ms. Moss and Ms. Freeman claimed they were subjected to relentless abuse after they were identified in a video clip that became widely circulated after the 2020 general election.
In it, they are seen allegedly mishandling ballots.
An investigation by the Georgia Elections Board later cleared Ms. Freeman and Ms. Moss of any wrongdoing.
The women testified at trial that Mr. Giuliani made allegations against them and intended to cause them harm. The two also claimed they had received death threats and suffered emotional harm as a result of his claims.
“Defendant Giuliani continues to spread the very same lies for which he has already been held liable,” the latest lawsuit reads.
Mr. Giuliani’s attorney, Joseph Sibley, told the court last week that the multi-million dollar payout would spell “the end” for his client and that it would be “the civil equivalent of a death penalty.”
Mr. Giuliani has backed his claims about the two former Georgia election workers and told reporters on Dec. 11, the day the defamation damages trial began, that “everything I said about them is true.”
He added that “of course” he didn’t regret his statements about Ms. Moss and Ms. Freeman.
“I told the truth. They were engaged in changing votes.” When a reporter replied that “there’s no proof of that,” Mr. Giuliani said, “you’re damn right there is. Stay tuned.”
