Rudy Giuliani Reaches Defamation Deal With Election Workers

Rudy Giuliani has reached a tentative settlement with two former election workers who won $148 million (£120 million) in damages after suing him for defamation over false claims of election fraud.

In a letter to a New York judge, Giuliani’s lawyer said his client had reached an agreement with Wandrea “Shaye” Moss and her mother, Ruby Freeman, that would waive the need for a future trial to settle his debt.

President-elect Donald Trump’s former lawyer was scheduled to appear in court Thursday. The deal was announced after he failed to appear for several hours.

Giuliani wrote in an article on X that the deal would allow him to keep his homes in New York and Florida and “all my personal belongings.”

Ms. Moss and Ms. Freeman said in a statement that they had agreed to allow him to keep the assets in exchange for “compensation and his promise never to defame us.”

“Today is a major milestone in our journey. We have reached an agreement and can now move forward with our lives,” the women said in a statement, calling the past four years a “living nightmare.”

The former New York mayor, meanwhile, said the settlement did not involve an “admission of responsibility or wrongdoing.”

“No one deserves to be threatened, harassed or intimidated,” he added. “This whole episode was unfortunate. The plaintiffs and I have agreed to never speak of each other in a defamatory manner, and I urge others to do the same.”

Neither Giuiliani nor the women disclosed details of the settlement agreement.

The 80-year-old had been ordered to return a host of assets to pay the $148 million he owed Ms Moss and Ms Freeman. The items included more than a dozen luxury watches, a Mercedes Benz car once owned by movie star Lauren Bacall, her $6 million Manhattan apartment and an autographed Joe DiMaggio baseball jersey.

Thursday’s trial was expected to decide whether Trump’s former lawyer should also hand over the keys to his West Palm Beach, Fla., apartment, as well as his collection of New York Yankees World Series rings that he said he gave to his son .

Giuliani had filed for bankruptcy shortly after he was ordered to pay former election workers, but the bankruptcy case was dismissed, leaving him without protection from creditors.

Giuliani had made efforts to recover several of the possessions he owed the women, saying he did not know the whereabouts of some of them.

He was arrested for contempt of court twice last week, the first time for failing to respond to requests to provide information about his assets, and the second time for making repeated defamatory statements about Mrs. Moss and Freeman.

A federal judge warned Giuliani that he could face prison time if he does not stop making false statements about them.

Giuliani was one of several Trump allies who peddled false claims of fraud as part of efforts to overturn Trump’s loss to President Joe Biden. He claimed the women – who worked as poll workers during the 2020 election – committed voter fraud.

His false statements led to death threats and harassment against Ms. Moss and Ms. Freeman, who testified before a U.S. House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. Both men said they were forced into hiding because of threats, some of them racist.

Giuliani, a Republican, was first elected mayor of New York in 1993 and was in charge at the time of the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center in 2001. In 2008, he ran for office. the presidency, then became an advisor to Trump.

Giuliani still faces charges in Georgia for his attempts to overturn Trump’s election defeat, although that case has remained in limbo since Fulton Country District Attorney Fani Willis was removed from office.