NEW YORK — A federal judge on Tuesday ordered Rudy Giuliani to turn over a lengthy list of property, including his Upper East Side apartment, to the two former Georgia election workers who won a $148 million defamation verdict last year against the former New York City mayor.
The decision by U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman is a significant loss for Giuliani, who has so far resisted paying any portion of the judgment. Giuliani must turn over the property, which also includes a Mercedes-Benz, more than a dozen luxury watches, cash and a $2 million legal claim for unpaid attorneys’ fees from the Trump 2020 campaign and the Republican National Committee, within seven days.
A spokesperson for Giuliani didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The two Georgia women, Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, had also asked Liman to turn over Giuliani’s Palm Beach condo to them. But the judge delayed a decision on that because it is the subject of a separate lawsuit from Freeman and Moss, who say Giuliani is trying to shield the Florida property from creditors by falsely claiming it as his residence so he could give it “homestead” status under that state’s law.
Freeman and Moss won a defamation lawsuit against Giuliani for falsely accusing them of committing election fraud in the 2020 election. He had falsely accused them of manipulating ballots, a jury found, and his allegations resulted in a barrage of threats and harassment, causing them to suffer professional consequences.
Though Giuliani declared bankruptcy following the verdict, in July a judge dismissed the bankruptcy case, citing Giuliani’s “uncooperative conduct” and failure “to provide an accurate and complete picture of his financial affairs.” The dismissal allowed the women, two of his biggest creditors, to begin pursuing his assets.
This article was originally published in POLITICO