Ex-election workers want Rudy Giuliani’s apartment, Yankees rings in push to collect $148M judgment
Aug 30, 2024, 11:27 AM | Updated: 11:32 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Two former Georgia election workers who won a $148 million defamation judgment against Rudy Giuliani asked a court Friday to award them the cash-strapped former New York City mayor’s apartment and other property as they ramp up efforts to collect on the staggering debt.
Lawyers for Ruby Freeman and Wandrea “Shaye” Moss urged the U.S. District Court in Manhattan to force Giuliani to turn over his Madison Avenue apartment, any remaining cash and some of his prized New York Yankees memorabilia, including three World Series rings and a signed Joe DiMaggio shirt.
Freeman and Moss also staked a claim to about $2 million Giuliani has said Donald Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign owes him and they sought to take control of another Giuliani property — his Palm Beach, Florida, condominium — through another legal mechanism known as receivership.
Freeman and Moss, the mother and daughter targeted by Giuliani in the wake of Trump’s 2020 election loss, are looking to chip away at what the ex-mayor owes them following the collapse last month of his bankruptcy case, which had paused collection.
If Giuliani does not turn over his property in a timely fashion, Freeman and Moss’ lawyers said they will see other remedies to wrest control, citing his history of “evasion, obstruction, and outright disobedience.”
“That strategy reaches the end of the line here,” lawyer Aaron Nathan wrote.
Giuliani spokesperson Ted Goodman criticized Friday’s filing as a step “designed to harass and intimidate the mayor” while he’s appealing the “objectively unreasonable” judgment.
“This lawsuit has always been designed to censor and bully the mayor, and to deter others from exercising their right to speak up and to speak out,” Goodman said. He contends that the “the justice system has been weaponized” against Giuliani “and so many others for strictly partisan political purposes.”
Giuliani, a longtime Trump ally, filed for bankruptcy last December just days after the eye-popping damages award to Freeman and Moss. The women said Giuliani’s unfounded attacks on them after Trump narrowly lost Georgia to Joe Biden led to death threats that made them fear for their lives.
As Giuliani’s bankruptcy case played out, Freeman and Moss’ lawyers accused him of using the process as a “bad-faith litigation tactic” and a “pause button on his woes.” Creditors accused him of flouting bankruptcy laws and potentially hiding assets.
Troubled by Giuliani’s repeated “uncooperative conduct,” self-dealing, and a lack of transparency, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane decided in July to dismiss the case. Lane labeled Giuliani a “recalcitrant debtor” and said he had thumbed his nose at the bankruptcy process while seeking to shield himself from the defamation judgment and other debts.
Among Lane’s concerns were that Giuliani funneled his income — including at least $15,000 a month from his now-canceled talk radio show — into companies he owned; never reported any income from those entities; failed to disclose that he had started promoting his own “Rudy Coffee” brand; and was late to disclose a contract he has to write a book.
The bankruptcy dismissal cleared the way for Giuliani’s creditors – chief among them Freeman and Moss – to pursue legal remedies to recoup at least some of the money they’re owed. It also freed Giuliani to pursue his appeal of the defamation verdict.
Soon after the bankruptcy case ended, Freeman and Moss’ lawyers said they filed paperwork regarding the judgment, placed liens on Giuliani’s New York and Florida properties and sent him a subpoena demanding information about his assets. Giuliani had not responded to the subpoena as of Friday, the lawyers said.
Giuliani has been trying to sell his Manhattan co-op apartment for more than a year, amid mounting debt and legal woes. Initially listed for $6.5 million in July 2023, the asking price has since fallen to $5.7 million. During the bankruptcy case, he said the Palm Beach condominium had been appraised at $3.5 million.
In addition to his homes, cash and Yankees mementos, Freeman and Moss are also seeking to take about two dozen of Giuliani’s watches, a diamond ring, costume jewelry, a TV, various items of furniture and a 1980 Mercedes-Benz SL500.
The items, including autographed Reggie Jackson and Yankee Stadium pictures, would then be auctioned off with proceeds going to Freeman and Moss, their lawyers said. All told, the property and cash the women are seeking could be worth somewhere north of $10 million – a sizeable sum, but just a small fraction of what they are owed.
The potential loss of his possessions is one of a host of legal woes consuming the 80-year-old Giuliani, the former federal prosecutor and 2008 Republican presidential candidate who was once heralded as “America’s Mayor” for his calm and steady leadership after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
In July, he was disbarred as an attorney in New York after a court found he repeatedly made false statements about Trump’s 2020 election loss. He is also facing the possibility of losing his law license in Washington after a board in May recommended that he be disbarred.
In Georgia and Arizona, Giuliani is facing criminal charges over his role in the effort to overturn the 2020 election. He has pleaded not guilty in both cases.
When he filed for bankruptcy, Giuliani listed nearly $153 million in existing or potential debts, including the $148 million owed to Freeman and Moss, almost $1 million in state and federal tax liabilities and money he owed lawyers. He estimated he had assets worth $1 million to $10 million.
In his most recent financial filings, he said he had about $94,000 cash in hand at the end of May while his company, Giuliani Communications, had about $237,000 in the bank. A main source of income for Giuliani has been a retirement account with a balance of just over $1 million in May, down from nearly $2.5 million in 2022.
In May, he spent nearly $33,000 including nearly $28,000 for condo and co-op costs for his Florida and New York homes. He also spent about $850 on food, $390 on cleaning services, $230 on medicine, $200 on laundry and $190 on vehicles.
