Giuliani Held in Contempt for Refusing to Hand Over Millions in Assets
A judge held Rudy Giuliani in contempt of court today after he failed to turn over $11 million in personal assets in a defamation suit. Georgia poll workers sued the disgraced former New York mayor and personal attorney to Donald Trump after he falsely accused them of participating in rigging the 2020 presidential election against Trump. The poll workers won the approximately $150 million suit in 2022 and have since been fighting to recover Giuliani’s assets.
According to Judge Lewis J. Liman, Giuliani “willfully violated a clear and unambiguous order of this court” when he “blew past” a Dec. 20 deadline to give evidence to the court that would help determine whether his primary residence is his $3.5 million Palm Beach, Florida, condominium. If the property is determined to be a vacation home rather than a primary residence, he would have to surrender it. Giuliani has maintained that he has been living in Florida since Jan. 1, 2024, but the judge said he will decide if some of the evidence Giuliani has not turned in would show that he was still working in New York.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs, election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, said Giuliani has not responded to requests for information that would allow them to prepare for the trial scheduled to start in two weeks to determine whether Giuliani can keep the condo.
Following the 2020 election, Giuliani falsely accused Freeman and Moss of changing votes from Trump to Joe Biden while working at the Atlanta polls. A Washington, D.C., jury found Giuliani defamed the election workers and awarded them $150 million.
Liman accused Giuliani of “running the clock” down and providing “self-serving” testimony defending his noncompliance. Giuliani admitted to not turning over all the evidence requested by the court because he thought it was asking for too much and that it could be a “trap” orchestrated by the plaintiff’s lawyers.
“He has testified that he did not respond because he suspected the motives of plaintiff’s counsel. That is not an excuse for violating the court’s orders,” Liman said in court Monday, according to CNN.
The judge continued: “More important, as the court informed the defendant, if there was reason to believe the plaintiff’s counsel misused discovery or would misuse discovery, he could raise that with the court. It was not an excuse to take the law into his own hands.”
Giuliani additionally claimed to have lost certain assets requested by the court, such as some watches, a Joe DiMaggio jersey, and other sports collectibles. Giuliani said that he has lost the jersey and last saw it in New York in September. He held up one of the missing watches — a pocket watch that belonged to his grandfather — while testifying remotely from Florida, telling the court he would hand it over to attorneys for safekeeping.
Due to Giuliani being held in contempt, the judge said he would limit the evidence and arguments his side can use during the upcoming trial, which would make it harder for Giuliani to maintain ownership of his Florida property.
According to court records, the plaintiffs said Giuliani has turned over some assets, including a 1980 Mercedes-Benz, his New York apartment, as well some furniture and baseball memorabilia, but that they do not have paperwork from Giuliani — such as the car’s title or the final paperwork to transfer the apartment — that would allow them to liquidate some of the assets.
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