NEW YORK (AP) — Rudy Giuliani reached a deal Thursday that will allow the cash-strapped former mayor of New York City to keep his homes and possessions, including prized World Series rings, in exchange for a unspecified compensation and a promise never to speak ill of them again two former Georgia poll workers who won a $148 million defamation verdict against him.
The agreement resolves all pending litigation between Giuliani and former campaign officials Ruby Freeman and her daughter Wandrea “Shaye” Moss. This also led to the cancellation of a trial that was scheduled to begin Thursday to decide ownership of his Florida condo and three World Series rings that Giuliani, a prominent New York Yankees fan, had received from the team.
Giuliani, 80, was supposed to be the trial's first witness but never appeared at the federal courthouse in Manhattan.
Instead, his and the women's lawyers were there, working on a solution. After several hours of non-trial, the lawyers emerged from an adjoining room, shaking hands and congratulating each other. Giuliani's son Andrew, who claimed ownership of the rings, beamed as he left the courtroom.
“Today is a good day,” the younger Giuliani told reporters afterward.
What remains unclear is how much Giuliani agreed to pay the women, how he will pay the bill and whether anyone will help him.
Giuliani had already begun handing over assets before the settlement, including his Manhattan apartment, worth about $5 million, a 1980 Mercedes once owned by movie star Lauren Bacall, numerous luxury watches and other possessions. His total assets are around $10 million.
Freeman and Moss won the massive verdict after they said Giuliani's lies about them after President-elect Donald Trump's 2020 election loss led to death threats.
“The last four years have been a living nightmare. We fought to clear our name, restore our reputation and prove we did nothing wrong,” the women said in a statement. “Today is an important milestone on our journey.”
With the agreement, they said, “we can now move forward with our lives.”
They added that they “agreed to allow Mr. Giuliani to retain his property in exchange for compensation and his promise never to defame us.”
Giuliani said in a statement posted on social media and read to reporters by his lawyer that the settlement satisfies the verdict against him but “does not involve an admission of liability or wrongdoing.”
“I am pleased with the outcome we achieved and have no complaints about it,” Giuliani said, adding that it allowed him to keep his Manhattan apartment and his Florida condo, as well as all of his personal belongings.
“No one deserves to be subjected to threats, harassment or intimidation,” the former mayor wrote. “This litigation has taken its toll on all parties. This whole episode was unfortunate. I and the plaintiffs have agreed never to speak about each other in defamatory terms, and I urge others to do the same.”
Giuliani's lawyer Joseph Cammarata said the deal was the result of negotiations over the past three days that lasted “until the early hours of the morning.”
Had there been no agreement, Giuliani would have been in court Thursday before the same judge who testified last week found him despised for failing to disclose information about some of his assets to the women's lawyers. As punishment, Judge Lewis J. Liman banned Giuliani from using certain evidence.
The trial, which has now been averted, was not intended to clarify again the question of whether Giuliani had defamed the women or how high the sentence was against him.
Rather, it was about deciding the fate of some of his prized assets, including his Florida condo, estimated to be worth more than $3 million, and the World Series rings he bought as a souvenir of his time as ” New York's No. 1 Yankee fan.”
Giuliani argued that he settled near Trump in Palm Beach, Florida, a year ago, but lawyers for Freeman and Moss say he continued to act as if his New York apartment was his residence until he left it last fall as part of the trial gave up complying with the verdict. Giuliani said he gave the rings to his son in 2018.
Andrew Giuliani said he expected to keep the rings.
Giuliani was too found in contempt Last week in Washington, D.C., the judge there found that he continued to defame election officials by repeating false claims that they corruptly counted votes during the 2020 presidential campaign.
Giuliani, once hailed as “America’s Mayor.” for his leadership after 9/11, served as Trump's personal attorney for a time during the president-elect's first term.
“Save Rudy!!!” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform on Sunday.
When the lawyers finalized the settlement, Giuliani posted a video on social media features a dog named Vinny on the grounds of Trump's Florida estate. The dog, the post says, “loves hanging out at Mar-a-Lago” but is “willing to spend a lot more time in Washington, DC” in support of Trump. It was not clear when the recording was taken.
Giuliani filed for bankruptcy a few days after the libel verdict and stopped collecting. After a judge dismissed the case last July, finding that the former mayor had resented the process, Freeman and Moss filed a lawsuit seeking payment.
According to court documents, as of May last year, Giuliani had just over $1 million in a retirement account, nearly $94,000 in personal cash and about $237,000 in his company's account.
At a recent hearing, Giuliani said he was “not impoverished” but had not had access to most of his remaining assets.
“Everything I have is tied up,” he lamented.
Giuliani said in a sworn statement Last month, after he left office in 2002, late Yankees owner George Steinbrenner gave him rings commemorating each of the four World Series the team won during his tenure as mayor.
Giuliani testified that he insisted on paying for the rings, which were identical to the ones the players had received, and told Steinbrenner, “These are for Andrew.” He said he had Andrew, then a teenager , given one immediately and kept three more for safekeeping. He estimated their total value at $27,000.
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Associated Press writer Dave Collins contributed reporting.