Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani speaks during a news conference outside the federal courthouse in Washington, Friday, Dec. 15, 2023 (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana).
A federal judge in New York on Monday held Rudy Giuliani in contempt and sanctioned him for repeatedly flouting court orders in connection with two Georgia election workers he defamed as they try to collect on the $148 million judgment awarded in their favor.
Last month, U.S. District Judge Lewis J. Liman, a Donald Trump appointee, ordered the contempt hearing following numerous requests from the plaintiffs Ruby Freeman and Shay Moss regarding the former New York City mayor’s “consistent pattern of willful defiance” involving court orders to turn over of his personal property and provide information to plaintiffs for discovery.
Following the two-day hearing, Liman ruled in the plaintiffs’ favor, saying of his decision, “It was not even close,” according to reporting from Inner City Press, which attended the proceedings.
“Plaintiffs have moved for sanctions against defendant. The motion is granted. The Court found that the defendant’s objections were meritless. He was ordered to answer by December 20. Defendant violated the order” Liman reportedly said. “The court takes judicial notice that the defendant was until recently a barred attorney, and has committed discovery violations in the past. He has lost on both procedural and substantive questions. It was not even close. He violated the court’s order”
Monday’s hearing came after Liman last month signaled that he was likely to punish Giuliani for his repeated failures to follow court orders and called out the former U.S. attorney for filing court documents explaining his shortcomings with assertions Giuliani knew “to be untrue.”
The contempt and sanctions orders stem from litigation regarding the fate of Giuliani’s multimillion-dollar Florida condominium, which earlier this year he claimed was his permanent residence, making it eligible for homestead protection under state law and thereby exempting the Palm Beach property from debt collection proceedings.
Attorneys for the Georgia election workers have disputed that claim, alleging in court documents that Giuliani treated the Florida condo as a vacation home, not a permanent residence. The duo has also alleged that Giuliani is refusing to answer certain questions required in the discovery process because truthful answers would show he has not been honest about the Florida property.
The issue of Giuliani’s permanent residence — along with the fate of his New York Yankees World Series rings — will be central to the Jan. 16, 2025, trial between the parties.
As part of the litigation, Freeman and Moss in November asked Giuliani to identify any financial, medical, or legal professionals he had consulted with for the last four years as well as any email/messaging accounts and phone numbers used in that time period.
After he missed several court-ordered deadlines, Giuliani eventually objected to the questions, claiming that the information was protected by “privilege, including, but not limited to the attorney-client privilege and/or work product doctrine and doctor patient privilege.” He also objected to providing the plaintiffs with his phones and messaging accounts, claiming such information “poses a safety and security concern to his wellbeing, as there were previous threats received by Defendant.”
Liman, on Dec. 17, penned a scathing rebuke of Giuliani’s late objections and issued an order compelling him to provide answers to Freeman and Moss.
“Defendant’s responses can only be understood as showing disrespect for the law and disregard for his obligations under law,” Liman wrote in the order, referring to Giuliani twice missing deadlines to respond to the plaintiffs’ questions. “The Defendant has not shown good cause for his failure to timely respond, and his tardy objections are accordingly waived.”
Liman reiterated those thoughts when he ruled from the bench on Monday, reportedly invoking U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch in telling Giuliani that “discovery is not a shell game.”
“Defendant could have asked for a confidentiality order but didn’t. He has offered a series of shifting meritless objections. The Court concludes that defendant has been attempting to run [out] the clock. The objections were pre-textual.”
Liman also found that Giuliani’s floundering objections legitimately prejudiced the plaintiff’s case as they prepare for trial in just over a week.
In holding Giuliani in contempt, Liman reportedly called out the former U.S. attorney for not providing a single email during the discovery process.
“The Court also finds Mr. Giuliani in contempt,” the judge reportedly said. “There was no substantial compliance. He has not produced a single email responsive to the RFPs. He had the emails going to his travel but he failed to produce them.”
Liman reportedly said he wanted to take the contempt sanctions “under advisement” and give it “more serious thought” before issuing a final order.
Giuliani’s legal woes are far from over, as he is scheduled to appear in federal court in Washington, D.C., on Friday for a separate contempt hearing before U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell, who presided over the defamation trial just over a year ago.
That hearing stems from Freeman and Moss seeking to hold Giuliani in contempt for allegedly violating an order barring him from repeating the defamatory claims he made about the duo. The election workers in November filed a motion claiming his defamatory campaign against them continued even after they were awarded the astronomical judgment and Giuliani declared bankruptcy.
According to the filing, the former U.S. Attorney for Manhattan had been “brazenly violating that consent injunction” by repeating “the exact same lies” that resulted in the initial defamation judgment against Giuliani.
