Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, who worked on the Georgia election, can start seeking enforcement of their $146 million judgment against Rudy Giuliani right away because they have a good reason to believe he will not follow through, a federal judge decided Wednesday.
According to U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell’s order, Giuliani’s failure to “satisfy even more modest monetary awards entered earlier in this case” gives good reason to think that he will try to hide or lose his assets during the 30 days.
Freeman and Moss can now go after Giuliani’s property in New York and Florida thanks to the decision.
Last week, an eight-person panel in Washington, D.C., gave Freeman and Moss more than $148 million in damages after a judge found Giuliani guilty of defaming them by falsely accusing them of election fraud in Georgia during the 2020 presidential election. The judge lowered the verdict by about $2 million on Wednesday to represent the amount of money the two were given in damages in a settlement last year with the TV network OAN, which was the other defendant in the case.
Giuliani said that Howell shouldn’t “abnormally shorten” the automatic 30-day stay after the decision. But Howell wrote that “there is nothing ‘abnormal’ about plaintiffs’ request” and that it was “appropriate and warranted” given Giuliani’s actions in the case.
Given that Giuliani repeatedly ignored court orders to hand over evidence, including proof about his finances, to Freeman and Moss, Howell found him guilty. He also didn’t follow through with orders to pay their lawyers over $200,000 in legal fees for trying to fulfill the orders.
“Giuliani cannot and does not dispute that he has continued to disregard the Court’s orders directing payment of plaintiffs’ attorney’s fees and costs in connection with plaintiffs’ successful discovery motions,” wrote Howell.
She also said that Freeman and Moss were worried that “Giuliani has numerous and mounting debts.” However, she said she wasn’t sure if he was really as broke as he said he was because he “persistently refused” to turn over his financial information.
Giuliani has a spokesperson who goes to court every day, so it’s hard to believe that he has “financial difficulties,” no matter how many times the claims are made or how widely they are reported in the media. “Giuliani has failed to show that he cannot pay the [amount] he owes,” Howell added.
A spokesperson for Giuliani did not reply right away to a request for comment on the decision.
He said that the size of the decision was “absurd.”
Howell wrote in her order on Wednesday that she did not think the amount was too much.
She also said that the jury’s award of $75 million for punitive damages was much lower than it could have been. “The amount of compensatory damages for defamation awarded by the jury was nearly $10,000,000 less than the amount requested by plaintiffs for reputational harm,” she said.
It was about the same amount the two had been given for emotional and reputational hurt, and Howell said the jury had been told it could increase that amount by four if it thought it was necessary.
Giuliani can still fight the decision, but he would have to put up a bond for the full $146 million that he owes Freeman and Moss. If he can’t post that much of a bond, he would have to get Howell to waive or lower the fee.