Giuliani Settles With Georgia Election Workers Over Defamation Payments

On By Littum

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NEW YORK, Jan 16 (Reuters) – Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor who served as Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, has reached a settlement with two Georgia election workers he falsely accused of helping to steal the 2020 election to Joe Biden, according to court records on Thursday’s show.

The settlement came the same day a non-jury civil trial before U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman was set to begin in federal court in Manhattan over whether campaign workers Ruby Freeman and her daughter Wandrea Moss could seize Giuliani’s Palm Beach, Florida, condo.

Giuliani has twice been held in contempt of court for his treatment of the workers.

He has already turned over his Manhattan apartment, a 1980 Mercedes-Benz vehicle and other assets to Freeman and Moss to help pay a $148 million judgment they won after a jury found he slandered them. But Giuliani argues that he should be allowed to keep his Palm Beach condo because it is now his permanent residence, an issue the judge must decide in the trial.

Giuliani has also said he could not honor claims by Freeman and Moss for three New York Yankees World Series baseball championship rings because he gave them as gifts to his son Andrew.

Liman had to decide what to do with the condo and the rings after the trial in the same district where the now-disbarred Giuliani served as the top federal prosecutor from 1983 to 1989.

After being praised for his mayoral response to the September 11, 2001 attacks, Giuliani’s reputation has fallen into tatters.

Giuliani has pleaded not guilty to criminal charges in two states for trying to overturn Biden’s 2020 victory over Trump.

On January 6, Liman held Giuliani in contempt for failing to comply with court orders and obstructing Freeman’s and Moss’ efforts to determine his primary residence. Four days later, U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell in Washington again found him in contempt for continuing to defame the two women.

In a 2021 lawsuit in Washington, Freeman and Moss accused Giuliani of defaming them by falsely claiming that surveillance video showed them hiding and counting suitcases filled with illegal ballots at an Atlanta basketball arena where electoral votes were being processed.

Howell found Giuliani liable for defamation as a penalty after he failed to turn over electronic records to Freeman and Moss.

A jury in Washington later found that he must pay Freeman and Moss $73 million in damages and $75 million in punitive damages. The two women are trying to carry out the sentence in Manhattan while Giuliani appeals.

Giuliani has previously admitted that his statements about Moss and Freeman were false and damaged their reputations. But Giuliani countered Howell’s contempt, saying he did not mention Freeman and Moss by name in a November podcast in which he claimed a video showed them “quadruple counting the ballots.”

His lawyers have also challenged the New York finding of contempt, saying Giuliani intended to provide the information Freeman and Moss sought, but the timeline was too tight.