(AFP) – A US judge held former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani in contempt of court on Monday for failing to reveal information about assets he has been ordered to hand over to two Georgia election workers he defamed, US media reported.
Giuliani, Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer, was ordered by a federal jury in Washington in December 2023 to pay nearly $148 million to Ruby Freeman and her daughter Wandrea “Shaye” Moss for repeatedly making false claims that they engaged in 2020 election fraud. A frustrated District Judge Lewis Liman held Giuliani in contempt for failing to cooperate with efforts to identify and turn over assets to Freeman and Moss, The New York Times and CNN reported. “The defendant has been attempting to run out the clock,” the Times quoted Liman as saying.
The judge did not outline what specific sanctions the 80-year-old Giuliani may face for defying the court’s orders, the newspaper said. Giuliani was a key figure in Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election he lost to Democrat Joe Biden. A former New York prosecutor, he has been disbarred over his false election claims.
Giuliani, who has filed for bankruptcy, has been ordered to surrender his $6 million New York apartment, a 1980 Mercedes Benz convertible, jewelry, luxury watches, and valuable collectible items including a jersey signed by baseball legend Joe DiMaggio. Giuliani was found guilty of defaming the two women as they took part in a vote count in the swing state of Georgia after the presidential election in 2020.
Using a video showing the two women passing an object — later revealed to be a mint — the former New York mayor claimed they were exchanging a USB drive “like vials of heroin or cocaine” to rig the results. Freeman and Moss, who are Black, told the jury during the defamation trial that Giuliani’s false accusations had upended their lives and made them the target of racist threats.
An eight-person federal jury awarded Freeman and Moss more than $16 million each for defamation, $20 million each for emotional distress, and $75 million in punitive damages.
© 2024 AFP
