By Luc Cohen
NEW YORK (Reuters) -A federal judge on Thursday threatened to hold former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani in civil contempt for failing to surrender his luxury apartment and other belongings to two Georgia election workers he defamed and owes $148 million.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman in Manhattan had on Oct. 22 ordered Giuliani, formerly a U.S. Attorney and personal lawyer to President-elect Donald Trump, to hand over the property to Ruby Freeman and her daughter Wandrea “Shaye” Moss within seven days.
The property would partially satisfy a judgment that a Washington, D.C., jury in December 2023 awarded Freeman and Moss, who accused Giuliani of destroying their reputations through lies that they tried to help steal the 2020 U.S. presidential election from Trump.
Freeman and Moss say Giuliani is resisting their collection efforts and ignoring questions about where his property is located.
At a hearing on Thursday, Liman gave Giuliani until next week to hand over the property – and warned that he expected Freeman and Moss to ask that Giuliani be held in contempt if he does not cooperate.
“He’s not going to be in contempt if he’s made efforts and it’s impossible to comply with the order, but that’s the standard that he’s going to be held to,” Liman said.
Giuliani, 80, told reporters after the hearing that he would turn over everything he was legally required to.
“They can have all my property but they’re not going to get me to back off from what I believe in,” Giuliani said.
Aaron Nathan, a lawyer for Freeman and Moss, said Giuliani appeared to be shuffling assets around, including by opening new bank accounts and creating a new limited liability company.
“It’s troubling that we learned about it on Monday for the first time,” Nathan said.
Freeman and Moss are trying to seize Giuliani’s Manhattan co-op apartment, a 1980 Mercedes, sports memorabilia and cash accounts. They said on Nov. 4 that someone emptied the apartment of most of its contents.
Giuliani, through his lawyer, has said he was complying with the turnover order, and that Freeman and Moss were being difficult by refusing to work with the co-op and his bank to facilitate the handovers.
Caruso also said the plaintiffs were being “vindictive” by requesting a watch once owned by Giuliani’s grandfather.
“Oh come on, that’s ridiculous,” Liman responded, saying it did not matter that the watch was an heirloom. “The law is the law.”
Giuliani filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after the $148 million verdict.
The federal judge overseeing that case dismissed it after finding that Giuliani failed to provide a complete picture of his finances. That dismissal removed Giuliani’s legal protections from creditors like Freeman and Moss.
Giuliani has been disbarred in New York, and pleaded not guilty to criminal charges in Georgia and Arizona that he aided Trump’s unsuccessful attempt to overturn the 2020 election.
Trump, a Republican, won a second White House term in Tuesday’s election, defeating Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Andrea Ricci and Daniel Wallis)
