By Katelyn Polantz | CNN
Two Georgia election workers awarded nearly $150 million by a jury for the harm caused by defamatory statements Rudy Giuliani made about them following the 2020 election can begin trying to collect from him immediately, according to a new court order.
Typically, the women who had sued Giuliani and won would have to wait 30 days to begin attempting to claim his assets in other states. But Judge Beryl Howell of the DC District Court, who oversaw the high-profile trial last week, gave Shaye Moss and Ruby Freeman’s attorneys the ability to attempt to collect on Wednesday.
Giuliani, Howell noted, had escaped revealing his worth by refusing to turn over evidence he had in the case before trial, never acknowledged previous court orders for him to reimburse the women for his attorneys’ fee, repeatedly claimed he’s broke and the verdict would severely hurt him, and yet still had support to help him in recent months.
“Giuliani’s persistent refusal to respond to plaintiffs’ discovery requests precluded plaintiffs from testing the veracity of Giuliani’s claimed, ‘financial difficulties,’” Howell wrote in the opinion Wednesday. “Such claims of Giuliani’s ‘financial difficulties’—no matter how many times repeated or publicly disseminated and duly reported in the media—are difficult to square with the fact that Giuliani affords a spokesperson, who accompanied him daily to trial.”
Moss and Freeman’s team have already identified assets Giuliani has in New York and Florida, such as properties in both states, according to court documents. His New York co-op apartment has been listed for sale at more than $6.1 million, and Moss and Freeman’s lawyers have also noted he has a new deal for a Newsmax streaming show that may indicate some income, in addition to other media appearances he makes.