Rudy Giuliani must hand over keys of his Manhattan apartment penthouse to Georgia election workers in defamation case
Rudy Giuliani has been ordered to hand out the keys to his Manhattan penthouse to Georgia election workers he has defamed, a judge has ruled.
A federal judge ruled Tuesday that Donald Trump’s former lawyer Giuliani must give all his valuable assets to Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, a mother and daughter who won a $148 million defamation judgment against him.
Freeman and Moss successfully argued in court that Giuliani’s attacks on them over Trump’s lies about the theft of the 2020 election led to death threats that left them fearing for their lives.
Giuliani must complete his three-bedroom Upper East Side home within seven days. He had previously put it on the market when his legal and financial problems increased.
The apartment is located in a monumental building from 1906, close to the iconic Central Park. It features a wood-burning fireplace and a “semi-private elevator landing,” according to the listing.
Rudy Giuliani has been ordered to hand out the keys to his Manhattan penthouse to the Georgia election workers he has defamed, a judge has ruled.
Giuliani must deliver his Manhattan apartment within seven days
Judge Lewis Liman also ordered the former New York mayor to surrender a collection of various watches, a signed Joe DiMaggio jersey and a 1980 Mercedes once owned by Hollywood icon Lauren Bacall, among other luxury items.
Freeman and Moss would also receive approximately $2 million in legal fees, which Giuliani said Giuliani still owes the Trump campaign.
Giuliani filed for bankruptcy reorganization in December, days after the former election workers won their defamation case.
“In the absence of an order for turnover to a trustee, plaintiffs would bear the unacceptable risk of delay and defendant’s insolvency,” Judge Liman wrote.
“The court finds no good reason to impose additional restrictions on the time or manner of the liquidation or prosecution of any other item or interest on the list.”
Freeman and Moss, mother and daughter, successfully argued in court that Giuliani’s attacks on them over Trump’s lies about the theft of the 2020 election led to death threats.
The apartment is located in a monumental building from 1906, close to the iconic Central Park
During their trial, Moss and her mother tearfully described becoming the target of a false conspiracy theory pushed by Giuliani and other Republicans as they tried to keep then-President Donald Trump in power after he lost the 2020 election.
“Money will never solve all my problems,” Freeman told reporters outside Washington’s federal courthouse after the verdict.
‘I can never move back into the house I call home. I will always have to be careful about where I go and who I share my name with. I miss my home. I miss my neighbors and I miss my name.’
Giuliani’s lawyer acknowledged that his client was wrong, but insisted that Giuliani was not fully responsible for the vitriol the women faced. The defense tried to pin much of the blame on a right-wing website that published surveillance video of the two women counting ballots.
Judge Lewis Liman also ordered the former New York mayor to surrender a 1980 model SL500 Mercedes once owned by Hollywood icon Lauren Bacall. One of the same model and year is shown
Giuliani still faces his biggest test yet: fighting criminal charges in the Georgia case accusing Trump and 18 others of undermining the results of that state’s 2020 election won by Democrat Joe Biden . Giuliani has pleaded not guilty and characterized the case as politically motivated.
He has also pleaded not guilty to nine felony charges in the Arizona case, alleging he spread false claims of election fraud there after the 2020 election.
Last month, Giuliani was suspended from Washington, months after he lost his law license in New York for pursuing false claims about the 2020 election.