Judge rips Giuliani's 'farcical' excuses for not turning over valuables in defamation case
A federal judge chastised Rudy Giuliani in a court hearing on why he has not surrendered his valuable assets as part of a $148 million defamation judgment.
U.S. district judge Lewis Liman told the former New York City mayor's attorney that the idea that his client does not have any information about where those assets are located is “farcical" after attorneys for Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Wandrea “Shaye” Moss visited his Manhattan apartment last week and discovered it had been cleared out weeks earlier, which the former mayor disputed.
"My apartment was filled with belongings and they just lied," Giuliani said outside the courthouse before the hearing. "All the things that were appropriate were there, and the apartment was pretty full with things, so they're lying completely. Every room had furniture in it. The Mercedes has never been in New York, it's always been in Florida, and it's there right now. Every bit of property that they want is available if they want it. The law says they're not entitled to a lot of it. For example, they want my grandfather's watch, it's 150 years old. That's a bit of an heirloom. Usually you don't get those unless you're involved in a political persecution."
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"In fact, having me here today is like a political persecution," Giuliani added. "The judge knew I couldn't come today. He's also scheduled a trial for right at the time of Donald Trump's inauguration. Gee, I wonder why he did that."
The judge had set an Oct. 29 deadline for Giuliani to surrender many of his possessions to the mother-daughter duo's lawyers, and Liman scheduled the hearing after learning the apartment had been cleared out.
"Leaving aside the car, the wrist watches and the like, where do you want it delivered and when?" Liman said, and their attorneys said the could give a location within 24 hours. "How about now?"
Giuliani was found liable for defamation after falsely accusing the pair of ballot fraud as he pushed Trump’s baseless election fraud election fraud conspiracy theories after the 2020 campaign.
The women say they were deluged with death threats after Giuliani accused them, with no evidence, of manipulating the vote count to ensure Joe Biden won that election.
"He is under an unqualified obligation to deliver all of the receivership property to the receiver," Liman said. "If he doesn't comply, I'm sure I'm going to get a motion for contempt."
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