Two Georgia campaign contributors asked a federal judge on Friday to give them control of Rudy Giuliani's assets in an effort to enforce a $148 million defamation judgment the former New York mayor owes them.
According to a court filing Friday, attorneys for Ruby Freeman and her daughter Shaye Moss want the court to give them control of Giuliani's New York apartment, valued at more than $5 million, as well as his Palm Beach condo. They also want him to turn over personal property, including a 1980 Mercedes-Benz SL500, jewelry, luxury watches and sports memorabilia, including Yankees World Series rings and jerseys signed by Joe DiMaggio and Reggie Jackson.
They are also demanding $2 million in legal fees that Giuliani says are owed by Donald Trump's campaign team and the Republican National Committee.
They are also seeking a separate court order that would allow them to take control of assets that Giuliani does not release.
The move comes after Giuliani spent months trying to avoid paying the $148 million judgment he owes Freeman and Moss. He has appealed the defamation ruling and attempted to file for bankruptcy, but the case was dismissed after a judge said Giuliani had not been transparent about his finances. Although Giuliani has insisted he does not have much money, his persistent high spending has raised eyebrows.
“At every step, Mr. Giuliani has chosen evasiveness, obstruction and outright disobedience. That strategy reaches its end here,” Freeman and Moss's lawyers wrote in the filing.
“The appeal of the objectively unreasonable $148 million verdict has not even been heard, and yet opposing counsel continues to take steps to harass and intimidate Mayor Rudy Giuliani,” Ted Goodman, a spokesman for Giuliani, said in a text message. “This lawsuit has always been designed to censor and intimidate the mayor and prevent others from exercising their right to speak and express their opinions.”
Freeman and Moss were both poll workers at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta during the 2020 election. Giuliani repeatedly spread false information about them and distributed a misleading and debunked video of them counting ballots as part of his efforts to overturn the election in Trump's favor. Both women were acquitted of any wrongdoing.
Giuliani refused to turn over the documents in the defamation trial, and a federal judge in Washington DC entered a default judgment against him last year. During a trial over damages, Freeman and Moss both testified at length about the vicious harassment they continue to face and their fear of appearing in public.
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The lawsuit is one of several cases testing whether defamation law can be an effective tool to curb disinformation in the United States. The ability to enforce the ruling against Giuliani is seen as an essential part of ensuring accountability for his lies about the 2020 election.
Giuliani faces additional defamation and criminal charges in Georgia and Arizona for his attempts to overturn the 2020 election.
