Rudy Giuliani: Former Georgia poll worker sues again, asking judge to permanently stop him from lying about her


CNN

Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, the two Georgia election officials who won a nearly $150 million defamation verdict against Rudy Giuliani on Friday, have sued him again and asked a federal judge to permanently ban him from lying about them.

The lawsuit comes as Giuliani continued to make false statements about her work as a mail-in ballot counter in the 2020 election.

“Defendant Giuliani continues to spread the exact same lies for which he has already been held accountable,” the new lawsuit says. “Defendant Giuliani’s statements, coupled with his refusal to agree to continue to refrain from making such statements, make it clear that he intends to continue his campaign of targeted defamation and harassment. It has to stop.”

Ted Goodman, an adviser to Giuliani, declined Monday to comment on “potential pending legal matters.”

The new lawsuit represents the latest fallout the former New York mayor faces over his legal work for Donald Trump after the 2020 election – and comes as Giuliani remains mired in debt and lawsuits. He is also on trial on criminal charges in Georgia, where he has pleaded not guilty in connection with his campaign work for Trump in 2020.

Lawyers for Moss and Freeman added that Giuliani had also indicated since the verdict that he would not stop repeating the false claims about them.

At the end of the first day of her defamation damages trial against him last week, Giuliani told television cameras in court that “everything I said about her is true” and that he had evidence to keep the media “in the know.” should. Giuliani barely defended himself in the case and did not testify.

Moss and Freeman pointed out that Giuliani also told the media after the jury's verdict on Friday that he had “no doubt” that his comments were “supportable,” and that on Saturday he appeared on a podcast hosted by right-wing extremist Steve Bannon repeated again and again.

Their new lawsuit seeks a permanent injunction from the federal court in Washington, D.C. against Giuliani that would prohibit him from “making or publishing, or causing to be made or published, any further statements repeating any false statements.” “. The mother and daughter “engaged in voter fraud, illegal activities or misconduct of any kind” during the counting of the 2020 election, the filing said.

More than a dozen statements made by Giuliani about them, in which he accused the women of manipulating votes during the vote count, turned out to be false and defamatory.

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

Judgment form in the federal defamation trial of Rudy Giuliani, December 15, 2023.

In a separate court filing on Monday, lawyers for both sides agreed on final figures and terms now that the jury has taken its stand.

Giuliani agreed that the court's final ruling would make clear that he owes the women $146 million, plus more than $237,000 in legal fees. The jury's verdict was reduced slightly because Moss and Freeman had previously settled another part of their lawsuit against One America News Network and others.

Giuliani also said the court could say in its final ruling that he made more than a dozen defamatory statements about Moss and Freeman that hurt them and that his “conduct was willful, malicious, wanton and deliberate.” it in the file.

Including these declarations in the court's ruling will make it more difficult for Giuliani to avoid paying Moss and Freeman through a bankruptcy filing.

DC District Court Judge Beryl Howell signed the terms of the final judgment Monday evening.

It's likely the clock will start soon, because then the women can begin collecting what Giuliani owes them for their emotional distress, reputational damage and as punishment.

Lawyers for Moss and Freeman have told the court that they want to try to collect money and claim his assets as quickly as possible and do not want to wait for a 30-day delay, which is automatic in cases like these. Giuliani said he wanted to keep the 30-day delay in place, but Howell has not commented at this time.

“We're going to work very, very hard to make sure that they see every bit of money that Mr. Giuliani has available to pay and fulfill this judgment,” John Langford, one of Moss and Freeman's attorneys, said afterward CNN's Erin Burnett the verdict.

“The filing of a final judgment is the document you need to go to other jurisdictions where Mr. Giuliani has assets, New York, Florida, and … assign the judgment to his assets,” Langford added.

While Giuliani has repeatedly claimed he is broke, Moss and Freeman's legal team is already looking for ways to collect the money they are owed.

The women's lawyers have identified “significant assets” Giuliani has in New York and Florida, including bank accounts, a condominium in South Florida and a co-op in New York City, according to another court filing following the jury's verdict.

And during the trial last week, Giuliani admitted that he had an agreement to host a show on a streaming channel on the right-wing network Newsmax, which could add to his income in addition to earnings from podcasts and other public appearances.

Moss and Freeman's team told the court on Monday that they already fear Giuliani might try to shield some of his assets, which is why they plan to try to claim some of his assets as early as this week.

“Defendant Giuliani has already proven himself to be an unwilling and uncooperative litigant, including with respect to this court’s orders for attorneys’ fees and costs,” attorneys for Moss and Freeman told Howell on Monday. “There is great risk that defendant Giuliani will use the time available to him to divest or squander available assets to satisfy even a small portion of plaintiffs’ judgment.”

Lawyers for Moss and Freeman have struggled for months to get a full picture of the former New York mayor's financial situation. Some of their only findings come from years of Giuliani's tax returns that have not been made public.

Despite this, Giuliani has publicly claimed he is broke. That led him, earlier in the lawsuit, to essentially forego fighting her in court, leading to this month's hearing.

Monday's court hearing noted that Giuliani had still not paid Moss and Freeman the reimbursements they previously received for their legal fees.

A law firm that represented Giuliani in other cases is also suing him for nearly $1.4 million in unpaid legal fees. There are also other debts that Giuliani has publicly disclosed, such as tens of thousands of dollars in unpaid phone bills and legal costs, some of which Trump helped him with.

“If he doesn't file for bankruptcy, he will continue to be indebted to them until he can pay it off,” Jennifer Hardy, a bankruptcy partner at the law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher, which is representing Moss and Freeman, told CNN Monday. Hardy and others at the firm have been trying to raise money for the families of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting from another right-wing figure, Alex Jones, who has defamed them and has since filed for bankruptcy.

The Jones case shows that after serious defamation verdicts, defendants “need to come up with the money, make a deal, or have a debt that hangs around their neck for the rest of their lives,” said another Willkie Farr partner who wrote on Jones case was involved. Stuart Lombardi said Monday.

This story has been updated with additional developments.