NEW YORK — Two former Georgia election workers who $148 Million Defamation Verdict against Rudy Giuliani asked the court on Friday to award them the cash-strapped former New York City mayor’s apartment and other properties as they ramp up efforts to collect the staggering debt.
Lawyers for Ruby Freeman and Wandrea “Shaye” Moss have asked the U.S. District Court in Manhattan to force Giuliani to surrender his Madison Avenue apartment, his remaining cash and some of his most prized New York Yankees memorabilia, including three World Series rings and an autographed Joe DiMaggio jersey.
Freeman and Moss also claimed about $2 million that Giuliani said he owed to Donald Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign. They also attempted to seize control of another piece of Giuliani’s property, his Palm Beach, Florida, condo, through another legal mechanism known as a guardianship.
Freeman and Moss, the mother and daughter duo targeted by Giuliani after Trump’s 2020 election loss, are eager to take some of the money the former mayor owes them after his bankruptcy filing fell through last month, halting collections.
If Giuliani does not turn over his assets in a timely manner, Freeman and Moss’s attorneys will seek other solutions to regain control, citing his history of “evasion, obstruction and outright insubordination.”
“That strategy reaches its end here,” wrote attorney Aaron Nathan.
Giuliani spokesman Ted Goodman criticized Friday’s filing as a move “intended to intimidate and harass the mayor” as he appeals the “objectively unreasonable” ruling.
“This lawsuit has always been designed to censor and bully the mayor and to prevent others from exercising their right to speak,” Goodman said. He alleges that “the legal system has been weaponized” against Giuliani “and so many others for strictly partisan political purposes.”
Giuliani, a staunch Trump ally, filed for bankruptcy last December, just days after Freeman and Moss won staggering settlements. The women said Giuliani’s baseless attacks on them after Trump narrowly lost Georgia to Joe Biden led to death threats that left them fearing for their lives.
As Giuliani’s bankruptcy case played out, attorneys for Freeman and Moss accused him of using the process as a “bad faith litigation tactic” and a “pause button on his misery.” Creditors accused him of skirting bankruptcy laws and possibly hiding assets.
Plagued by Giuliani’s repeated “uncooperative behavior,” self-serving and lack of transparency, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane decided in July to dismiss the case. Lane called Giuliani a “recalcitrant debtor” and said he had turned his nose up at the bankruptcy process while trying to protect himself from the libel judgment and other debts.
Lane raised concerns, among other things, that Giuliani was funneling his income — including at least $15,000 a month from his now-cancelled talk radio show — to companies he owned; that he never reported income from those entities; that he failed to report that he had begun promoting his own brand, “Rudy Coffee”; and that he was late in reporting a contract he has to write a book.
The bankruptcy dismissal cleared the way for Giuliani’s creditors — notably Freeman and Moss — to take legal action to recover at least some of the money they’re owed. It also freed Giuliani to continue his appeal of the defamation judgment.
Shortly after the bankruptcy case ended, attorneys for Freeman and Moss said they filed paperwork regarding the judgment, placed liens on Giuliani’s properties in New York and Florida and sent him a subpoena demanding information about his assets. Giuliani had not responded to the subpoena as of Friday, the attorneys said.
Giuliani has been trying to sell his Manhattan co-op apartment for more than a year amid mounting debt and legal troubles. Originally listed for $6.5 million in July 2023, the asking price has since dropped to $5.7 million. During the bankruptcy case, he said the Palm Beach condo was appraised at $3.5 million.
In addition to his homes, cash and Yankees memorabilia, Freeman and Moss also want to seize about two dozen of Giuliani’s watches, a diamond ring, fake jewelry, a TV, miscellaneous furniture and a 1980 Mercedes-Benz SL500.
The items, which include autographed Reggie Jackson and Yankee Stadium photos, would then be auctioned off, with the proceeds going to Freeman and Moss, their attorneys said. All told, the property and money the women are after could be worth somewhere north of $10 million — a significant sum, but only a fraction of what they’re owed.
The potential loss of his assets is one of a number of legal problems facing the 80-year-old Giuliani, a former federal prosecutor and 2008 Republican presidential candidate who was once hailed as “America’s mayor” for his calm and steady leadership following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
In July he became struck off as a lawyer in New York after a court ruled that he repeatedly made false statements about Trump’s loss in the 2020 election. He also faces the possibility of losing his law license in Washington after a board in May advised that he be removed.
In Georgia And ArizonaGiuliani faces criminal charges for his role in the attempt to overturn the 2020 election. He has pleaded not guilty to both charges.
When he filed for bankruptcy, Giuliani listed nearly $153 million in existing or potential debts, including $148 million he owed to Freeman and Moss, nearly $1 million in state and federal tax debts, and money he owed to attorneys. He estimated he had assets worth $1 million to $10 million.
In his most recent financial filings, he said he had about $94,000 in cash on hand at the end of May, while his company, Giuliani Communications, had about $237,000 in the bank. A major source of Giuliani’s income was a retirement account with a balance of just over $1 million in May, down from nearly $2.5 million in 2022.
In May, he spent nearly $33,000, including nearly $28,000 on condo and co-op fees for his homes in Florida and New York. He also spent about $850 on food, $390 on cleaning services, $230 on medications, $200 on laundry and $190 on vehicles.