Former Donald Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani has until the end of next week to give the lawyers of the women he defamed the keys and title of his classic car, and ship them two dozen watches, furniture and sports memorabilia, or else face contempt sanctions, a federal judge said Thursday.
At a lengthy court hearing in Manhattan, Giuliani grumbled frequently from the defense table and was given firm new orders by the district Judge Lewis Liman on how he must respond to the Georgia election workers to whom he owes nearly $150 million.
Giuliani previously was told by the judge he was to provide Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, the two Georgians he defamed after the 2020 election, many of his most valuable and sentimental possessions by last Tuesday. His lawyer has tried to argue he was ready to provide the items and just didn’t know how.
In court, Liman warned that Giuliani could be held in contempt and sanctioned “if he hasn’t delivered and there’s a way in which he could have delivered.”
“The law is the law. I don’t apply it differently to your client,” Liman said to Giuliani’s attorney, Kenneth Caruso.
Several times the judge asked Caruso to speak with Giuliani, who sat at the defense table, hunched over, shaking his head and whispering exasperations loudly enough to be heard on the microphone in front of him.
Caruso prompted a tense moment with the judge after he accused Moss and Freeman of being “vindictive” of winning Giuliani’s grandfather’s watch as part of the judge’s orders.
Liman responded, “Come on. That’s ridiculous … if (others in his court) owe a debt, they have to pay a debt.”
At one point, Giuliani himself stood up to tell the judge he wanted his name removed from a sworn statement he signed that listed him as the only person who knew where his assets were.
Liman said it was “farcical” Giuliani didn’t know where his possessions were – including the ones that he previously said he had and now needs to turn over.
Giuliani then said he didn’t want to provide names of others who knew where his items were located, because he believed they were being “tortured” by lawyers.
“You don’t have the right to exercise self-help,” Liman responding, ordering the mayor to answer “truthfully and fully” who had knowledge of where his things were.
In court, Giuliani’s attorney has said some of his possessions, like his approximately two dozen luxury watches and jewelry, and some expensive furniture, is in his $3.5 million Palm Beach condo – where Giuliani says he now lives and is fighting Moss and Freeman to hold onto.
Some of the items as well as sports memorabilia including a Joe DiMaggio-signed jersey is in a storage unit on Long Island, where the manager is currently unreachable because he is out of town for a month, court filings say.
Moss and Freeman’s team are also in the process of taking possession of Giuliani’s $6 million Manhattan condo, which was nearly empty when they gained access to it last week and they intend to sell.
At one point in the court hearing, Giuliani’s attorney brought up the timing of Moss and Freeman’s pursuits – with the hearing happening two days after Trump’s reelection. Giuliani continues to support Trump publicly but says he wasn’t paid about $2 million for the work he did for Trump’s campaign in 2020.
Moss and Freeman’s legal team are now able to pursue that amount too, from Trump, and said Thursday they may try to take it to court.
After the hearing, when asked by CNN if he hoped Trump would help him, Giuliani said, “Mr. Trump doesn’t have to help me get out of it. All he has to do is straighten out the legal system, and you’ll find that bringing this case was a complete abuse of process.”
He added: “The $145 million judgment to anyone sensible is ridiculous, obviously punitive, obviously done because I’m a Republican.”
This story has been updated with additional developments.