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Rudy Giuliani given week to turn over his $5 million co-op apartment to Georgia election workers he defamed

Molly Crane-Newman, New York Daily News on

Published in News & Features

NEW YORK — Rudy Giuliani must fork over control of his snazzy Upper East Side co-op apartment and other pricey assets to the Georgia mother and daughter election workers he defamed with baseless accusations of ballot fraud, a Manhattan judge ruled Tuesday.

The former New York City mayor and Donald Trump lawyer has seven days to give up assets “including cash accounts, jewelry and valuables, a legal claim for unpaid attorneys’ fees, and his interest in his Madison Avenue co-op” — currently on the market for $5 million — to satisfy some of the $148 million he owes Ruby Freeman and Wandrea “Shaye” Moss for defaming them in 2020 after the presidential election, Manhattan federal court Judge Lewis Liman ordered in a 24-page ruling.

The decision comes in relation to seizure efforts by Freeman and Moss to collect the staggering judgment a Washington, D.C., jury awarded them in December. It demands Giuliani give up almost everything he owns of value with the exception — for now — of three Yankees World Series rings his son, Andrew Giuliani, claims to have been gifted to him by his father and is fighting to keep.

Liman ruled that all of Giuliani’s valuable items and interests listed in court documents by Moss and Freeman “should be subject to turnover and receivership, in order to ensure that the liquidation of the transferred assets is accomplished quickly and consistently,” and for maximum profits.

The judge added that he would defer a decision on what to do with Giuliani’s Palm Beach condo, where he’s been living, until a hearing on Monday.

Liman also ruled that Moss and Freeman are entitled to pursue about $2 million Giuliani is owed by Trump’s last presidential campaign and the Republican National Committee for services rendered in 2020 and 2021.

The eye-popping sum Giuliani was ordered to pay the Atlanta election workers last year came after he was found liable for repeatedly and maliciously accusing them of rigging votes for President Joe Biden in 2020, prompting a deluge of racist death threats that forced them into hiding and unemployment.

“We are proud that our clients will finally begin to receive some of the compensation to which they are entitled for Giuliani’s actions,” the women’s attorney, Aaron Nathan, said in a statement.

“This outcome should send a powerful message that there is a price to pay for those who choose to intentionally spread disinformation.”

 

After he was hit with the devastating judgment, Giuliani quickly filed for bankruptcy amid a sky-high stack of lawsuits. But his bankruptcy matter was thrown out in August by a judge who found Giuliani was being murky about his finances and failing to comply with his orders.

Giuliani, 80, must also hand over his collection of more than two dozen luxury watches, including one gifted to him by the president of France after 9/11, a 1980 Mercedes Benz car once owned by actress Lauren Bacall, sports memorabilia that includes an autographed Joe DiMaggio jersey, and jewelry and furniture.

“The Court also does not doubt that certain of the items may have sentimental value to Defendant,” Liman wrote Tuesday.

“But that does not entitle Defendant to continued enjoyment of the assets to the detriment of the Plaintiffs to whom he owes approximately $150 million. It is, after all, the underlying policy of these New York statutes that ‘no man should be permitted to live at the same time in luxury and in debt.’”

Once dubbed “America’s mayor” for his steady leadership in the wake of the 9/11 attack, the former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York was permanently stripped of his law license in D.C. last month after being disbarred in New York over the summer stemming from his election subversion efforts.

He also faces related criminal charges in Georgia and Arizona stemming from alleged efforts to overturn Biden’s victory, to which he’s pleaded not guilty.

Giuliani did not respond to calls and texts. His spokesman, Ted Goodman, did not immediately wish to comment.

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©2024 New York Daily News. Visit at nydailynews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

 

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