Search Articles
MANHATTAN (CN) — A judge in Manhattan federal court on Tuesday afternoon ordered former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani to begin turning over assets and property to begin collection of the $146 million defamation judgment he owes to two former Georgia poll workers the former Trump lawyer baselessly accused of committing election fraud to steal the 2020 election for President Joe Biden.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman ordered Giuliani on Tuesday to surrender the lease to his Manhattan apartment to a federal receiver within seven days, along with his 1980 Mercedes-Benz SL500, and his claims to outstanding legal fees owed by legal fees owed by former president Donald Trump and the Republican National Committee.
Giuliani owes $146 million in civil damages to former Georgia poll workers Ruby Freeman and Wandrea “Shaye” Moss for his false claims that the mother and daughter helped rig the state’s 2020 election for Biden, and for the torrent of racist death threats that followed.
Giuliani previously testified at bankruptcy proceedings earlier in the year that he is owed “about two million dollars” by either or both the Trump 2020 presidential campaign and the Republican National Committee for his work following the 2020 presidential election.
Liman noted the “profound irony” of Giuliani’s request to postpone the turnover of those Trump campaign claims for unpaid legal fees until November 6, 2024, the day after Election Day, as to prevent causing any “unnecessary, media frenzy” close to the presidential election.
“By his own admission, defendant defamed plaintiffs by perpetuating lies about them. Defendant’s lies cast unwarranted doubt on the integrity of the ballot-counting in Fulton County, Georgia in the immediate wake of the 2020 Presidential Election,” the Trump-appointed judge wrote. “The court finds that transfer and receivership is appropriate here as it will allow the plaintiffs to stand in the defendant’s shoes with respect to the Trump campaign in order to effectively pursue the claim.”
The shares to Giuliani’s tenth-floor apartment at East 66th and Madison Avenue in Manhattan’s Lenox Hill neighborhood are estimated to be worth more than $5 million.
The turnover order also seeks the seizure of Giuliani’s 1980 Mercedes-Benz SL500, various items of New Yankees memorabilia and 26 various watches.
Notably spared from the immediate collection by now by Liman’s order are Giuliani’s Palm Beach, Florida condo, and a collection of Yankees World Series rings, which are both subject of separate pending litigation.
Giuliani has claimed his lakeview Palm Beach condominium as his principal residence in an effort to qualify for homestead protection under Florida law.
Freeman and Moss argued that Giuliani’s claims to Florida residency are false and misleading, arguing in court filings that he has never actually primarily resided at the Palm Beach condo since his bankruptcy proceedings.
Liman meanwhile blocked Giuliani from taking any actions to sell or attempt to sell or transfer the Palm Beach condo, or to take any action that would diminish its value in the interim pending the judge’s determination of the receivership issue later this month.
Separately, Giuliani’s son Andrew Giuliani — who launched an unsuccessful bid for New York governor in the 2022 Republican primary race — says the Yankees World Series rings are not actually his father’s property to turn over because the elder Giuliani gifted them to him to him in 2018.
Andrew Giuliani said his father actually gave him four World Series rings on May 25, 2018 — one for each of the Yankees’ titles in 1996, 1998, 1999, and 2000 — but he let Rudy Giuliani temporarily hold onto and wear the 2000 ring for “Subway Series” against the New York Mets, since he had not worn it during his marriage at the time.
The collection order on Tuesday is the latest of the elder Giuliani’s ongoing legal woes stemming from his sundry and frenzied efforts to overturn the 2020 election. He filed for bankruptcy in late 2023, citing nearly $153 million in liabilities that included Freeman and Moss’s trial judgment, unpaid taxes and legal fees.
His license to practice law in New York had been suspended since 2021, and he was formally disbarred in July.
His former attorney Robert Costello sued him in September 2023 for failure to pay nearly $1.4 million in legal fees, and he reportedly owes the IRS half a million dollars in unpaid taxes from 2021.
Separately, Giuliani was also indicted in April in connection with a separate scheme to use fake Republican electors in Arizona to change the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.
Giuliani has pleaded not guilty. The case is expected to go to trial in early 2026.
Representatives for Giuliani did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the turnover order Tuesday afternoon.
Follow @jruss_jrussSubscribe to our free newsletters
Our weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.