NEW YORK – Rudy Giuliani on Friday surrendered a Mercedes-Benz, watches and a ring to two Georgia election workers who successfully sued him for defamation – while still refusing to turn over other property to satisfy a $148 million judgment dollars against him.
The first delivery comes as Giuliani is embroiled in a dispute over his legal representation and is seeking to retain some items of his personal property.
The car and other items represent the first property, aside from access to his New York City apartment, that Giuliani was forced to hand over to Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, who won the $148 million defamation judgment against him last year. But even as Giuliani began complying with court orders Friday to relinquish his assets, he demonstrated more of the delaying tactics and obfuscation that have defined his approach to the legal proceedings.
An attorney for Giuliani, Joseph Cammarata, told U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman that the former New York mayor did not give items in a storage facility to Freeman and Moss because a court-ordered restraining order prevented him from doing so. And, Cammarata wrote, certain categories of items that Judge Giuliani had to transfer to the women are exempt by law.
For example, Cammarata told the judge that “all clothing worn” is exempt from sales by law, which should make a Joe DiMaggio jersey off-limits.
Freeman and Moss won the verdict last year after Giuliani falsely accused them of committing election fraud in the 2020 election.
Earlier this month, Liman threatened to hold Giuliani in contempt after he missed a court-imposed deadline to turn over his assets to the women.
The storage facility has, in fact, become a flashpoint in the case, as Giuliani has repeatedly claimed he does not have access to it. On Wednesday, an attorney for Freeman and Moss told the judge that an attorney for the facility provided them with invoices and photos showing that Giuliani had moved large amounts of property there in October, including 24 pallets of “unknown boxes and loose furniture.” possibly in violation of a restraining order that went into effect on August 7. The documents also showed that Giuliani owed the facility nearly $100,000 as of mid-October.
Until this week, Giuliani was represented by two other attorneys, Kenneth Caruso and David Labkowski. Hours after the filing over the storage facility, Caruso and Labkowski wrote a letter to the court asking them to withdraw as his attorneys, citing rules that allow withdrawal based on a client’s behavior.
Their filing with the court shows that they deeply disagree with Giuliani’s approach to the case, his lack of cooperation and his insistence on a defense that is “not warranted under existing law.”
Instead of immediately accepting the lawyers’ requests to leave, which would have left Giuliani without representation the day before he was due to transfer his property, the judge ordered a Nov. 26 hearing on the case.
However, on Friday evening, Cammarata submitted a motion to represent Giuliani, along with the letter stating that he had turned over the car and other items.
