Topline
Former attorney Rudy Giuliani's trial against the Georgia election officials to whom he was forced to hand over his assets has been canceled after both sides reached an agreement that, according to the parties, allows Giuliani to keep his personal belongings after a trial The trial over the former mayor's assets was scheduled to begin on Thursday, but was postponed because Giuliani never appeared in court.
Rudy Giuliani arrives at the federal courthouse in Washington DC on January 10th.
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Important facts
Giuliani said in a statement Thursday that he and the plaintiffs had reached a settlement that would allow him to keep “all of my personal items” after the former mayor was in the process of allocating his assets to campaign officials Ruby Freeman and Wandrea hand over. Shaye” Moss, to whom he was ordered to pay $148 million for defamation for making false claims linking her to voter fraud in the 2020 election.
Freeman and Moss also said they “agreed to allow Mr. Giuliani to retain his property in exchange for compensation and his promise never to defame us,” without specifying how much compensation they would receive from Giuliani if the agreement would come about.
While the court had already ordered Giuliani to hand over most of his assets – including his New York apartment, Mercedes-Benz and sports memorabilia – there was still a dispute over whether he should hand over his Florida condo and his World Series rings must. who were the subject of a trial scheduled to begin Thursday.
The dispute was scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. EST on Thursday, but Giuliani never came to court and the court adjourned the hearing until Tuesday morning without the court or Giuliani's spokesman Ted Goodman even commenting on the former mayor's absence.
Giuliani and the plaintiffs' attorney soon afterward submitted a letter to the court saying the two sides had reached an agreement that, if “certain conditions are met,” would end all pending litigation between the two sides – the trial cancel and further litigation – and the former lawyer then said in a subsequent social media statement that he had “reached an agreement” with Freeman and Moss “that will result in the plaintiffs' judgment being satisfied.”
The former mayor said the settlement “does not represent an admission of liability or wrongdoing by either party” and that he is “satisfied” with the agreement. Freeman and Moss said the agreement means “we can now move forward with our lives.”
Crucial quote
“This litigation has taken its toll on all parties. “This entire episode was unfortunate,” Giuliani said Thursday on
Surprising fact
While Giuliani did not appear in court on Thursday, the defendant posted a video on social media at 10:44 a.m. on X showing his dog at President-elect Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate.
How does the comparison affect Giuliani being disrespected?
In addition to the dispute over his assets, Giuliani was also held on two counts of contempt of court as part of his lawsuit against Georgia election officials. He was convicted last week of contempt in the New York case for failing to turn over assets to Freeman and Moss, although U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman has not yet imposed contempt sanctions against Giuliani. The judge has scheduled a hearing on the matter for Jan. 29, which Giuliani and the plaintiffs say should be postponed until February or dropped if the terms of the settlement are met. Her settlement suggests the matter will be dropped if the settlement is approved, although Liman has yet to rule on her request to dismiss the matter. The former New York City mayor was also found in contempt last week for the second time in his other case against Georgia election officials – the original defamation dispute, rather than the separate lawsuit over his assets – because the court found that he had continued the Defaming the plaintiff even though he was prohibited from doing so by court order. The plaintiffs' suggestion Thursday that their settlement “will result in the conclusion of all litigation currently pending between the parties” makes it likely that the settlement would also scuttle that dispute.
What did Giuliani say about the case?
Giuliani has denied any wrongdoing in the cases against him, including after the $148 million verdict, and told the court that he did not turn over some assets because he believed the order requiring him to do so was too broad and a “trap,” the court told the Associated Press. After Liman scorned Giuliani last week, Goodman and Giuliani called the case over the former lawyer's fortune an “ongoing politically motivated vendetta against Mayor Giuliani” and wrote that the plaintiffs' lawyers “could happily fight to take Mayor Giuliani's fortune away.” The most valuable personal items… but they can never take away his extraordinary contribution to public service.”
Important background
Giuliani was ordered to pay $148 million to Freeman and Moss in December 2023 based on claims he repeatedly made about them after the 2020 election, which they said turned their lives upside down and too far widespread threats against them. His claims were debunked and Georgia's foreign minister's office declared them “false and unfounded” after an investigation. The former Trump lawyer filed for bankruptcy shortly after the nine-figure verdict against him, and an appeals court upheld the verdict against him in April. While he had been ordered to hand over much of his assets, Giuliani had argued that he should not give up his Florida condo, worth about $3.5 million, according to the New York Times to a Florida law that protects the fundamental rights of a person's residence from seizure by creditors. He also argued that he didn't have to give up the New York Yankees World Series rings because he gave them to his son, Andrew Giuliani. Giuliani's legal saga against election officials is just one part of a larger series of legal problems he has faced since leading Trump's unsuccessful legal efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. He also had his law license revoked, was indicted on criminal charges in both Georgia and Arizona, and faced additional defamation lawsuits filed by voting machine manufacturers Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic. Both civil cases, involving false claims of voter fraud involving the companies' voting machines, are still pending. Giuliani has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him, denies any wrongdoing and continues to falsely claim that there was widespread voter fraud in 2020, for which there is no evidence.
Further reading