Rudy Giuliani found in contempt of court for failing to turn over assets to Georgia election officials

NEW YORK– A New York federal judge ruled Monday that Rudy Giuliani was in contempt of court for failing to properly respond to requests for information as he turned over his assets to satisfy a $148 million defamation judgment awarded to two Georgia election officials.

Judge Lewis J. Liman ruled after hearing Giuliani testify for a second day in a contempt hearing called after attorneys for election workers said the former New York mayor failed to properly comply with requests production of evidence in recent months.

Giuliani testified for about three hours in Liman’s Manhattan courtroom on Friday, but the judge allowed him to finish his testimony remotely on Monday from his condominium in Palm Beach, Florida.

At the start of the hearing Monday, Giuliani had an American flag background, which he said he uses for an Internet program he runs, but the judge told him to replace it with a plain background.

Giuliani admitted during Monday’s testimony that he sometimes didn’t hand over everything requested because he thought the requests were too broad or inappropriate or even a “trap” set by lawyers for plaintiffs.

He also said he sometimes had difficulty providing information regarding his assets due to numerous criminal and civil court cases requiring him to produce factual information.

Giuliani, 80, said equipment turn-in requirements made it “impossible to function officially” about 30 to 40 percent of the time.

Election workers’ lawyers say Giuliani demonstrated a “consistent pattern of willful defiance” of Liman’s October order to forfeit his assets after he was found liable in 2023 for defaming their clients by falsely accusing them of tampering with ballots in the 2020 presidential election.

They said in court papers that he returned a Mercedes-Benz and his New York apartment, but not the documents needed to monetize the assets. And they said he failed to return his watches and sports memorabilia, including a Joe DiMaggio jersey, and that he failed to return “a single dollar of his non-exempt cash accounts.”

Giuliani said Monday that he is investigating what happened to the DiMaggio jersey and currently does not know where it is or who owns it.

Aaron Nathan, a lawyer for the election workers, asked the judge to make inferences about what Giuliani had not turned over – such as the list of his doctors over the past four years – that would make it more likely that the court would conclude that the Palm Beach property was not Giuliani’s primary residence and therefore is not protected from foreclosure.

Joseph Cammarata, Giuliani’s lawyer, said reaching such a conclusion would amount to a civil “death penalty” and cause Giuliani to lose the Florida property even before the trial in mid-January, when the judge is supposed to hear testimony and review evidence first. decide the layout of the condominium rings and the World Series.

Giuliani insisted that the Palm Beach property is now his personal residence and should be shielded from judgment.

His lawyers predict he will ultimately win custody of the items on appeal.