Giuliani can’t pay election workers he defamed. So they get his NY penthouse

A U.S. judge has ruled Rudy Giuliani must give control of his Manhattan apartment and other items to two former Georgia election workers to pay a US$148 million defamation penalty.

Former Donald Trump attorney and New York mayor Rudy Giuliani must turn over control of his Manhattan penthouse apartment and a number of valuable possessions to two election workers to whom he owes a nearly US$150-million defamation judgment, a U.S. judge ruled Tuesday.

Judge Lewis Liman of the South District of New York federal court in Manhattan said Giuliani has seven days to put the Madison Avenue apartment and a list of luxury items — including several watches, jewelry, furniture, sports memorabilia and a vintage Mercedes — into a receivership that will be controlled by Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss.

The two women will also be entitled to legal fees Giuliani says he’s still owed by Trump’s 2020 campaign, estimated to total around US$2 million, the judge ruled.

Control of the Manhattan penthouse will be transferred to Moss and Freeman for the purposes of selling it. The apartment has an estimated worth of over US$5 million.

Among the items Giuliani has to hand over are a 1980 Mercedes that was once owned by Hollywood legend Lauren Bacall; 26 luxury watches, including one gifted to him by the president of France after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks when Giuliani was New York mayor; and a signed Joe DiMaggio baseball jersey.

One of those watches was given to Giuliani by his grandfather and he asked that he be allowed to keep it because of its sentimental value. But Liman rejected the request, saying Giuliani could have had it exempted if he proved it was worth less than US$1,000 but he did not do so.

The judge added, “However painful the circumstances, a party cannot claim that every family heirloom should be exempt.”

A decision on whether to transfer control of an additional condo in Palm Beach, Fla., and a collection of New York Yankees World Series rings to the receivership will be determined after an additional hearing at the end of October, Liman ruled. Giuliani’s son Andrew, who is also named as a defendant in the case, has claimed in court his father gifted the rings to him.