NEW YORK — A federal judge held Rudy Giuliani in civil contempt of court twice Monday for failing to adequately respond to requests for documents and information sought by two Georgia women who won a $148 million defamation verdict against him in 2023.
Although U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman had the power to jail Giuliani for his defiance of court orders, the judge stopped short of that penalty. Instead, Liman declared that Giuliani can no longer present the central legal defense that could have allowed the former New York City mayor to avoid handing over his Palm Beach condo to the two women, Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss.
Freeman and Moss have spent months trying to seize the condo and Giuliani’s other valuable assets as they attempt to recover the massive sum he owes them. But they say Giuliani has been recalcitrant in responding to mandatory requests about his property.
Freeman and Moss won the defamation judgmentwhen a jury found that Giuliani falsely accused them of election fraud after the 2020 election. The two women, who are mother and daughter, were tormented by harassment and death threats after Giuliani spread lies about them.
Giuliani has refused to respond to their requests for certain information related to his whereabouts and lifestyle that might help determine whether he truly made the Palm Beach condo his primary residence, as he has claimed. The information requests included lists of doctors and lawyers with whom he has consulted in recent years, as well as the identity of email, messaging or other communications accounts.
As a result, Liman found Giuliani in contempt and limited what evidence he can present in his defense at a trial scheduled for next week over whether he can keep the condo. And Liman, who will oversee and decide the outcome of the trial, signaled that he will conclude that Giuliani doesn’t have certain information to support his claim that the condo was his primary residence.
Those two penalties will put Giuliani in dire jeopardy of having to forfeit the property, his last remaining residence, to the women.