A letter filed in federal court yesterday from Rudy Giuliani’s lawyer indicates that the former New York City mayor has turned over some property to satisfy a $148 million judgment against him. The letter reports the delivery of his watch collection, a ring, and his vintage Mercedez-Benz.
Last year, a Manhattan federal court found that Giuliani had defamed two Georgia election workers, Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, during the 2020 presidential election, when he repeatedly claimed that they had engaged in election fraud to shift the result in that state in favor of Joe Biden. Trump supporters harassed the poll workers – who are mother and daughter – with threatening, racist, and expletive-laden phone calls, showed up at their home, and even attempted to execute a citizen’s arrest against Moss. Freeman and Moss’s social circles and relations distanced themselves out of fear for their own safety, and the pair even moved house to avoid further harassment. A former U.S. attorney, Giuliani lost his law license over the ordeal.
A federal judge ruled last year that Giuliani had to turn over his Madison Avenue apartment and valuables, which include pricey jewelry and sports memorabilia, to a receivership controlled by the women he defamed so that they can be sold to partially satisfy the judgment against him. The letter from Giuliani’s lawyer, Joseph Cammarata, is the first indication that any portion of the damages is being paid out.
Friday was Cammarata’s first day as Giuliani’s counsel, after his previous lawyers filed a motion with the court earlier in the week to drop their client. The details as to what led to them quit Giuliani’s debt enforcement case are redacted from the court’s documents, showing only that they told the judge it was the result of “fundamental disagreements.”
Giuliani is maintaining a legal fight not to turn over two residences – a $6 million Madison Avenue apartment and his residence in Palm Beach, Florida, valued at $3.5 million – as well as several Yankees World Series rings. Giuliani may have a case when it comes to the Palm Beach residence, as Florida’s homestead exemption includes broad debtor protections for homeowners, which allow them to keep their property even the face of a judgment like Giuliani’s. As far as the rings are concerned, the former New York City mayor claims that he gave them to his son years ago.
The date for the trial to settle these disputes is January 16th, just days before president-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration. “We respectfully request that the trial be adjourned until on or after January 22, 2025,” Cammarata stated in his letter to the court, “so that Defendant Rudolph Giuliani can attend the inauguration events.”
