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 judge on Monday held Rudy Giuliani in civil contempt and granted sanctions against him for blowing off requests for information from 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.

The ruling by Manhattan federal court Judge Lewis Liman, 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 comply with requests from Ruby Freeman and Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, whom he was found liable for defaming in December 2023 and ordered to pay around $148 million.

In finding Giuliani had failed to comply with evidence obligations, the judge held the former lawyer for Donald Trump in contempt and reserved a decision on the punishment. Separately, he granted the relief Freeman and Moss requested to draw “adverse inferences” against him at his upcoming Jan. 16 trial, significantly limiting his avenues to defend his continued ownership of his $3.5 million Palm Beach, Fla. condo.

The bench trial will concern whether the property is Giuliani’s legal “homestead,” whose seizure would render him homeless, and his Yankees World Series rings, which he claimed he gifted to his son, Andrew.

In his testimony that began on the stand in Manhattan Federal Court Friday and continued remotely Monday, Giuliani claimed he had done all in his power to comply with Moss and Freeman’s requests. He said he “took it upon myself” to withhold some information he didn’t believe the women’s lawyers should be asking for, including a list of lawyers, doctors, and various providers he’s consulted since 2020 to establish how long Palm Beach has been his primary residence. Giuliani says it’s been his permanent residence, not just a vacation home, since Jan. 1, 2024.

Liman said Giuliani “blew past” a Dec. 20 deadline to provide the court details related to the condo. The judge said he would now assume Giuliani doesn’t have the information necessary to support his claims and would draw inferences about any gaps in what he did hand over.

“He has testified that he did not respond because he suspected the motives of (Moss and Freeman’s) counsel,” Liman said Monday. “If there was reason to believe (Moss and Freeman’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.”

Liman noted that Giuliani had cited concerns over his security in refusing to provide certain information yet had provided the same details to financial institutions he’s dealt with.

“The only conclusion the court can draw and the one which it does draw is that defendant has been attempting to run the clock, thwarting (Moss and Freeman’s) efforts to get plainly relevant information by stalling until the date of trial,” the judge said. “The court concludes that these objections were simply pretextual and that his real reason for not providing the information was because its substance would be (harmful) to him in the homestead action.”

Liman said Giuliani’s testimony Monday that his violations were not willful and that he had tried to comply was “self-serving” and that he put little weight in them.

“If he wanted to comply, he could have,” the judge said. “He simply chose not to do so.”

Lawyers for Freeman and Moss have an outstanding contempt motion against Giuliani that says he has willfully defied Liman’s orders to transfer millions in assets 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 Yankees Hall of Famer Joe DiMaggio jersey is among the items the women have said he’s refused to make available. Giuliani claimed it was missing and that he was personally investigating its whereabouts.

They said he’d turned over the 1980 Mercedes-Benz once owned by actress Lauren Bacall but not the signed title to go with it. Giuliani on Monday said he’d located the paperwork 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.

In a statement, Giuliani’s spokesman, Ted Goodman, said Willkie, Farr & Gallagher, the law firm representing Freeman and Moss, “might be happy to fight to take away Mayor Giuliani’s most cherished personal belongings including his signed baseball jersey of his childhood hero and his grandfather’s pocket watch, but they can never take away his extraordinary record of public service.”

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