CNN
—
A federal judge on Monday continued to collect $150 million in damages from Rudy Giuliani for failing to provide information about two former Georgia election officials he defamed after the 2020 presidential election. was sentenced for contempt.
The sanctions add to the plethora of serious consequences that former New York City mayor, U.S. attorney and lawyer Donald Trump have faced in court in recent years.
There are less than two weeks left until the trial in which Mr. Giuliani is scheduled to fight to retain ownership of the $3.5 million condominium in Palm Beach, Florida, where he is said to be living. Giuliani was accused of failing to respond to requests for information from election official Ruby Freeman and the Board of Elections. Shay Moss prepares for trial.
Judge Louis Lehman said Giuliani’s disobedience was intentional and accused him of “throwing the clock” until his trial date.
The judge said he gave little weight to Giuliani’s “self-serving” testimony, which claims he is innocent of any noncompliance.
“He has testified that he did not respond because he doubted the plaintiff’s attorney’s motives. That is no excuse for violating the court’s order,” Lehman said in court Monday.
“More importantly, as the court notified the defendant, if there is reason to believe that the plaintiff’s attorney has abused discovery or will abuse discovery, the attorney may bring it to the court. That’s not an excuse to take the law into your own hands,” the judge added.
Mr. Giuliani had been in bankruptcy for several months, delaying payments and handing over valuables, but in October he began the process of handing over some of the assets to Mr. Moss and Mr. Freeman on orders from Mr. Lehman. He handed over some of the items he owed, including more than a dozen luxury watches, furniture and baseball memorabilia, and began the process of transferring ownership of his $6 million New York apartment to them, but all This does not mean that the transfer is complete.
For example, he gave Moss and Freeman the 1980 convertible Mercedes itself, but not the title for the car. Giuliani testified Monday that he transferred the title to Mercedes over the weekend but couldn’t find it sooner.
On stage, he admitted that he had been clutching his grandfather’s pocket watch. During a virtual court appearance Monday, he waved a pocket watch at the camera and told the court he would give it to his lawyer who would keep it safe.
Mr. Giuliani has also been ordered to give up his collection of sports memorabilia, but claims he can’t find an autographed Joe DiMaggio jersey that once hung on his mantle in his New York City apartment.
“The only thing I have a hard time with is Joe DiMaggio’s jersey because I don’t know where it is and it’s hard to reconstruct who took it,” Giuliani testified. “I am personally conducting my own investigation.”
Giuliani criticized the judge’s decision to hold him in contempt on a podcast Monday night. The former mayor slammed the ruling, saying: “I’ve already been deposed for hours on this matter. I’ve given him and them hundreds of pages of discovery. It’s literally this high. They want more. And they want me to look down on them because I don’t give them enough.”
Giuliani claimed on his podcast that the judge had “already made up his mind” and that testifying would be a waste of time. He also argued that the court’s requests for information in the case were “extremely burdensome.”
Mr. Giuliani’s spokesman, Ted Goodman, responded to the judge’s contempt finding by attacking Mr. Freeman and Mr. Moss’s lawyers, saying that Mr. Goodman “will gladly take away Mayor Giuliani’s most prized personal property.” He said he intended to take items such as a baseball jersey autographed by his childhood hero and a baseball uniform autographed by Mr. Moss. I have my grandfather’s pocket watch, but nothing can take away his extraordinary record of public service. ”
More than four years ago, while working for Trump after the 2020 election, Giuliani falsely claimed that he had switched votes in Atlanta, where the then-president lost the popular vote, to hurt Trump. He repeated the allegations and defamed Mr. Moss and Mr. Freeman.
A Washington, D.C., jury ruled a year ago that the former mayor’s comments about Moss and Freeman caused them so much harm that he owed them $150 million. I put it down.
Mr. Moss and Mr. Freeman are also seeking to charge Mr. Giuliani with contempt of court for failing to turn over assets as ordered months ago.
In Monday’s ruling, the judge limited the defense arguments and evidence Giuliani could use at trial, creating penalties that could make it more difficult for Giuliani to keep his Florida condo. .
This story has been updated with additional developments.
CNN’s Rashard Rose contributed to this report.
