Giuliani says he can't surrender a Joe DiMaggio jersey in $148M defamation case because it's locked up in Ronkonkoma, NY
AP Photo/Seth Wenig
- Rudy Giuliani was in federal court in NY on Thursday for his $148M election-worker defamation case.
- Lawyers for defamed workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss say he has yet to surrender key possessions.
- His signed Joe DiMaggio jersey is in a Long Island storage facility he has no access to, he said.
Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio jersey?
Ronkonkoma, New York, apparently.
A framed Yankees uniform, worn and signed by Joltin' Joe himself, is no longer hanging on the living room wall of Rudy Giuliani's Manhattan apartment. On this, both sides of a contentious $148 million Georgia election-worker defamation case agree.
On Thursday, some light was shed on what remains a point of dispute: why Giuliani has yet to surrender the DiMaggio jersey and other sports memorabilia, art, and furnishings to election workers Ruby Freeman and Wandrea "Shaye" Moss as ordered last month, along with the $5.7 million apartment itself.
Speaking during a federal court hearing in Manhattan, Giuliani's attorney, Kenneth Caruso, told a judge that the jersey and other items removed from the apartment remain in a locked storage facility in the Long Island hamlet of Ronkonkoma.
Giuliani, however, can no longer access the storage facility and can therefore not turn anything inside it over to Freeman and Moss, her daughter, the lawyer said.
The plaintiffs can pick the items up at the facility, the lawyer added.
"The objects there are no longer in his possession," Caruso told US District Judge Lewis Liman. It's up to "the proprietors of the Ronkonkoma facility to turn it over," the lawyer added.
Freeman v. Giuliani/Business Insider
A lawyer for Freeman and Moss, meanwhile, told the judge that he has been unable to reach anyone at the storage facility, identified in court papers as "The America First Warehouse" in Ronkonkoma.
A website for The America First Warehouse in Ronkonkoma advertises an identically named podcast and shares photos of past events hosted at the space with guests who include Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lib of TikTok founder Chaya Raichik, and Kellyanne Conway.
The venue has also hosted at least eight events in Giuliani's honor, including a fundraiser for his legal defense fund.
An employee reached by phone Thursday told Business Insider that the warehouse is a "patriotic venue," not a storage facility. A business located on the same lot, Corporate Transfer, is advertised as a storage facility.
The owner of both The America First Warehouse and Corporate Transfer, Joseph Verderber, Jr., did not immediately return a request for comment from BI.
Giuliani's spokesman didn't respond to a request for comment.
Giuliani has yet to turn over any of the possessions he was ordered to last month to fulfill the $148 million defamation judgment, including a Mercedes once owned by Lauren Bacall, a "diamond ring," and several luxury watches, the plaintiff's attorney, Aaron Nathan, said.
Giuliani must also turn over $2 million in legal fees he has previously said are owed to him by President-elect Donald Trump, money he said Thursday he still does not have.
Instead of complying with the order to surrender property, Giuliani has been "evasive" or "silent," while also moving cash around, including by opening bank accounts and forming a limited liability company, Nathan said Thursday.
"He no longer has a possession right over it," Nathan said. "We've asked over and over again where this stuff is. He refuses to answer."
Freeman v. Giuliani/Business Insider
The judge said that if Freeman and Shaye believe the items from the New York apartment — including sports memorabilia he referred to as "a couple of pictures, a shirt" — were improperly moved and that Giuliani is lying about not being able to access them, "then plaintiffs can move for contempt."
The plaintiffs can move for a contempt finding if Giuliani fails to comply with any of his court orders, the judge said.
"My client is not in possession of the property," Giuliani's lawyer responded, to which the judge answered, "He's not going to be in contempt if he's made attempts and it's impossible to comply with the order."
Asked after court what the holdup with the storage facility might be, Giuliani told Business Insider he didn't know.
"All they do is keep jerking us around," he said, smiling.
Giuliani was ordered Thursday to provide the plaintiffs' lawyers with the keys and title to the Mercedes, which the former mayor had tried to keep by saying its value was under $4,000.
"His 54-year-old automobile is worth less than that," Caruso had argued again on Thursday.
Giuliani was also ordered to continue working with the plaintiffs on getting access to the storage facility. He must also provide plaintiffs with current co-op shares for the Manhattan apartment.
The judge had ordered Guiliani on October 22 to turn over many of his assets, including the apartment, the DiMaggio jersey, luxury wristwatches, and the Mercedes.
Giuliani had attempted to declare bankruptcy, but a judge dismissed the case in July.
A federal jury in 2023 awarded Freeman and her daughter, Moss, $148 million to repair their lives after Guiliani peddled false claims that they manipulated ballots in the 2020 election during Donald Trump's first attempt to return to the White House.
Giuliani repeatedly said Freeman and her daughter pulled up "illegal" ballots stashed in a suitcase and passed around a USB drive that contributed to Biden winning in Georgia, a key state in his electoral victory.
The women received death threats and were subjected to harassment after Giuliani made his claims on social media and his podcast.
The Georgia state election board investigated the claims and cleared the women of wrongdoing.