NYC judge holds Rudy Giuliani in contempt, grants sanctions for not providing info to Georgia election workers he defamed

Molly Crane-Newman, New York Daily News on Jan 6, 2025

Published in News & Features

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NEW YORK — A Manhattan judge held Rudy Giuliani in civil contempt and granted sanctions against him Monday for willfully defying court orders to provide information to the Georgia mother and daughter election workers he defamed, calling out the former New York City mayor for “attempting to run the clock” and thwart the women’s evidence-gathering efforts.

Manhattan federal court Judge Lewis Liman’s ruling, which he read for more than 15 minutes from the bench, came after he heard several hours of testimony from Giuliani, 80, about his efforts to make information available to Ruby Freeman and Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, whom he was found liable for defaming in December 2023. Giuliani took the stand Friday and continued testifying remotely from Florida on Monday morning.

Giuliani claimed he had done all in his power to comply with his discovery obligations and deflected blame to his former lawyer, Kenneth Caruso, who withdrew in November and who he’s known for around 50 years, dragged-out divorce proceedings, and being bogged down by his long list of legal woes for any confusion.

On Friday, he said he “took it upon myself” to withhold some items and information he didn’t believe the women should be asking for.

“It’s not an excuse to take the law into his own hands,” the judge said of Giuliani’s unfounded suspicions, later calling Giuliani’s Monday testimony “self-serving” and saying he gave it little weight.

The judge held Giuliani in civil contempt, reserving a decision on the ensuing punishment, and granted Freeman and Moss’s requested relief to draw “adverse inferences” against him, limiting his avenues to defend his continued ownership of his $3.5 million Palm Beach, Fla., condo at a Jan. 16 bench trial later this month.

The bench trial before Liman will concern Giuliani’s possession of his Yankees World Series rings, which he’s claimed can’t be taken from him since he gifted them to his son, Andrew, and the Palm Beach property he says is his legal “homestead,” whose seizure would render him homeless.

Lawyers for Freeman and Moss say Giuliani has willfully defied Liman’s orders to transfer around $11 million in assets and accompanying data and documentation toward satisfying the $148 million judgment he was ordered to pay for falsely accusing them of ballot fraud in their Washington, D.C. defamation case.

An autographed jersey of Yankees Hall of Famer Joe DiMaggio — which Giuliani had claimed was missing and whose whereabouts he said he was personally investigating — is among the items the women said he refused to make available. They also say he’s failed to turn over the signed title for his 1980 Mercedes-Benz, once owned by actress Lauren Bacall and leasing documents related to his stake in his multimillion-dollar 10-room Upper East Side co-op apartment, which Giuliani said he’d located over the weekend.

Later this month, Giuliani is slated to appear in Washington for a separate contempt hearing. Freeman and Moss have asked the judge who presided over their defamation case to sanction him for continuing to repeat his lies that they committed fraud during the 2020 election.

Giuliani is also under criminal indictment in Georgia and Arizona on charges related to his alleged efforts to subvert the results of the 2020 presidential election. He’s pleaded not guilty and could face significant prison time if convicted.