A federal judge chastised Rudy Giuliani on Thursday for offering a “farcical” explanation of why he hasn’t complied with a court order to turn over valuables to former Georgia election workers he defamed after the 2020 presidential campaign.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman made the remark in a New York courtroom after Giuliani’s attorney claimed that the former mayor wasn’t sure where some of his belongings are.
“The notion that your client doesn’t have any knowledge of where his assets are located is farcical,” Liman told Giuliani lawyer Ken Caruso.
Giuliani, a one-time personal attorney to President-elect Donald Trump, had been ordered to transfer personal property “including cash accounts, jewelry and valuables” to former election workers Ruby Freeman and her daughter Shaye Moss by Oct. 29 in order to begin complying with the $146 million defamation judgment against him.
The judge ordered Thursday’s hearing after attorneys for Freeman and Moss said Giuliani had failed to turn over any of the items he was expressly ordered to surrender, which include a signed Joe DiMaggio jersey, a luxury watch collection and jewelry.
Lawyer Aaron Nathan said that when they entered Giuliani’s New York apartment last week, they found that the valuables and some furniture had been removed.
Giuliani told reporters Thursday that “they lied” about items being moved.
In a court filing, Nathan noted that a real estate listing for the $5.7 million apartment, which Giuliani has to turn over to Freeman and Moss, had shown the framed DiMaggio jersey hanging in the living room. He contrasted that with a picture taken on Oct. 31, when they entered the apartment, showing the jersey and numerous other items were no longer there.
“There has been nothing but game playing,” Nathan said at Thursday’s hearing.
Giuliani maintains the items have always been where he says they are: in his Palm Beach and New York homes and a storage facility in Ronkonkoma, Long Island, which he claims he cannot access.
He’s also said that he’s not sure exactly which assets he still has, and where they might be. Nathan pushed back on that assertion in a court filing, calling it “stunning” since the list of items came from Giuliani’s own disclosures this year in his now-dismissed bankruptcy case.
In court, Caruso tried to argue that there were two items Giuliani should not have to hand over — a 1980 Mercedes that formerly belonged to Hollywood icon Lauren Bacall and a watch that belonged to Giuliani’s grandfather.
Giuliani spoke about the watch to reporters before Thursday’s hearing, saying “the law says” that Freeman and Moss are “not entitled to a lot of” what they’re seeking.
“For example, they want my grandfather’s watch. It’s 150 years old. That’s a bit of a heirloom. Usually you don’t get those unless you’re involved in a political persecution,” Giuliani said.
In court, Caruso told the judge it was “vindictive” of Freeman and Moss to ask for the watch, a claim the judge angrily shot down.
Liman said he regularly presides over cases where debtors big and small have to turn over family heirlooms.
“If they owe a debt, they have to pay a debt. It doesn’t matter if it was handed down,” Liman said.
Caruso also argued that his client should be able to keep the Mercedes — which Giuliani took to Trump’s polling place in Florida on Election Day — and said it was worth less than $4,000.
The judge denied that request and ordered Giuliani to hand over the title and the keys to the car in the coming days.
“All the property must be turned over to the receiver, and if not I will hold him in contempt,” the judge said of Giuliani.
After court, Giuliani said told reporters: “I will turn over everything I’m legally obligated to turn over … They’ve been less than clear.”
Attorneys for Freeman and Moss noted that both the car and the watch were explicitly mentioned in the judge’s Oct. 22 order.
Giuliani was hit with the massive monetary judgment last year after a judge found him liable for repeatedly defaming Freeman and Moss with his accusations that the pair committed fraud during the 2020 election.
Giuliani’s allegations were investigated and found to be meritless, but he has not backed off of them.
“I did not defame them,” he told reporters Thursday.
Brittany Kubicko and Kyla Guilfoil contributed.
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