Rudy Giuliani was held in contempt of court Monday and accused of trying to “run out the clock” to avoid paying his $148 million defamation verdict — which may now cost him his $3.5 million Florida condo.
Manhattan federal court Judge Lewis Liman found the former Big Apple mayor in contempt twice for blowing through deadlines and not turning over key information ahead of a Jan. 16 trial over whether he has to give up the Florida abode and his prized Yankees World Series rings.
Giuliani owes the multi-million dollar tab to Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and her daughter Wandrea “Shaye” Moss after falsely claiming the pair tried to steal the 2020 election from President-elect Donald Trump.
The 80-year-old former US Attorney for the Southern District of New York has argued that the two women should not be able to take his Palm Beach, Fla., home as they move to collect the massive judgment, because it’s his main residence.
But he failed to turn over by Dec. 20 a key piece of evidence in the case — a list of his “professional service providers,” including doctors and financial advisors, and the addresses where they are based, Liman found.
Giuliani also did not respond to a court order for him to produce texts and emails related to his “travel, or whether Florida was his homestead,” the judge said.
“The defendant willfully violated a clear and unambiguous order of the court,” Liman said, reading his ruling from the bench in Manhattan federal court.
Courts can in theory issue fines or even order jail time to people they find in contempt, but the judge did not go that far on Monday.
Liman instead said that he would assume during the trial later this month that the list of his service providers will show that “none of them” will be in Florida — in a potentially big blow in his bid to hang onto the Palm Beach condo.
The ruling comes after the judge was not convinced by Giuliani’s claim during two days of testimony, on Friday and earlier in the day on Monday, that he did “his best” to comply with the court’s so-called discovery rules for turning over information in time.
“The court puts very little weight on that self-serving testimony,” Liman said.
The court has yet to rule on the Georgia election workers’ separate bid to hold Giuliani in contempt for failing to turn over assets, like the title to his 1980 Mercedes convertible previously owned by actress Lauren Bacall, fast enough to satisfy his debt to them.
Giuliani, appearing via a video feed, testified Monday that he has finally located the title to the luxury car.
But his lawyer, Joseph Cammarata, told the judge that the election workers have yet to receive the document because Giuliani still needs to obtain a new version from the local DMV after getting his ex-wife’s name removed.
“It’s not non-compliance, it’s cutting through a lot of red tape,” Cammarata pleaded.
Liman did not appear swayed by the argument.
“It’s not hard,” he shot back.
Giuliani spokesman Ted Goodman, said, “It’s tragic to watch as our justice system has been turned into a total mockery, where we have charades instead of actual hearings and trials.
“Unfortunately, it’s getting worse and worse because so few members of the legal community are willing to speak up or do anything about the weaponization of our justice system, and that needs to change.”
