Rudy Giuliani has been found in contempt of court after repeatedly defying court orders and missing deadlines as a pair of election workers he defamed seek to recover tens of millions of dollars for false claims made following the 2020 presidential election.
A two-day contempt hearing in Manhattan sought to determine whether the former New York City mayor willfully evaded discovery requests and ignored questions about his properties during a protracted legal battle over control of his assets.
According to District Judge Lewis Liman, Giuliani demonstrated a “blithe disregard” for document requests, including providing the names of his doctors, financial firms, and lawyers, as well as phone numbers, email accounts, and messaging apps.
Attorneys for Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss sought information to determine whether Donald Trump’s former attorney lived full-time in his Florida condominium, which they hope to seize in order to begin paying down the $148 million he owes as part of a massive defamation judgment.
Giuliani repeatedly made “meritless” excuses for failing to answer those questions, and eventually only partially answered them, Liman said from the bench inside a federal courtroom in Manhattan on Monday.
He provided “no substantial justifications” for missing deadlines and “willfully” violating court orders, instead attempting to “run the clock” in the proceedings, knowing that the actual answers would be “injurious to his defense,” according to Liman.
Liman imposed so-called “adverse inferences” on those document requests; a list of doctors, financial firms, and lawyers would show that none are in Florida, and his emails and messages would likely establish that his homestead claim to his Palm Beach address “never existed,” according to Liman’s order.
“The evidence of noncompliance is clear and convincing,” he told me.
He also holds Giuliani in contempt for failing to comply with months-old “clear and unambiguous” obligations to produce the documents.
Liman will determine the penalties at a later date.
The judge is also considering whether to hold Giuliani in contempt for failing to turn over property.
“It’s tragic to see how our justice system has been turned into a total mockery, with charades instead of actual hearings and trials,” Giuliani and his spokesperson Ted Goodman said in a statement following Monday’s hearing.
“Unfortunately, it’s getting worse and worse because so few members of the legal community are willing to speak up or do anything about the weaponization of our justice system, and that needs to change.”
Giuliani gave his testimony remotely via video link from his Palm Beach home on Monday.
He stated that “every day has been hell” as he manages at least half a dozen criminal and civil cases, including additional defamation lawsuits over his false election claims.
“Some days it’s completely impossible,” he told me.
He insisted he had done everything he could to comply with court orders “to the best of my ability,” but claimed he couldn’t find some documents or felt he had a right to refuse them due to the “overbreadth” of “abusive” requests.
Giuliani testified on Monday that he was concerned that his answers would be used against him in other cases or to impeach him.
He also blamed his inability to respond to questions about his email and social media accounts on his lack of technical knowledge.
“I would use an Italian expression: menzamenz,” he said when asked if he is “tech savvy.”
“So-so,” he replied. “There are many things I can do, but also many things I can’t do or understand. It’s difficult to explain, but I get confused a lot.”
Giuliani’s assets, including a 1980 Mercedes Benz, his New York penthouse apartment, and signed sports memorabilia, were initially included in his brief bankruptcy case, which he filed after a jury found him liable for defaming the two women in 2023.
Last month, attorneys for Freeman and Moss told the court that Giuliani “has not turned over a single dollar,” nor has he turned over a “number of specific items of personal property that he has been unambiguously ordered” to hand over—including the title to his convertible, keys to his Manhattan apartment, and valuable sports memorabilia.
“It is unclear at this point even where those possessions are located,” they stated in court documents.
Giuliani has already delivered the car, more than a dozen watches, and a “single diamond ring,” as well as access to his New York penthouse apartment, “but no keys or ownership documents,” leaving the women “to sort through significant logistical obstacles to a sale, including the presence of his ex-wife’s name on the title,” according to court documents.
In a series of court filings on Christmas Eve, Giuliani urged Liman to reject a demand for sanctions, arguing that he had already turned over “everything” he was ordered.
However, Giuliani admitted last week that he did not hand over his grandfather’s gold pocket watch because he was afraid it would be “lost,” and that he has no idea where he stored his Joe DiMaggio Yankees jersey, which was once photographed hanging in his Manhattan penthouse.
On Monday, he put the gold watch in front of his laptop camera. He also claimed that he found the title to his Mercedes.
When attorneys for election workers arrived at his New York apartment last October, the jersey was not present, nor was most of the furniture, which had been cleared out days before.
According to court documents, Post-It notes with the words “take all” were left on various pieces of furniture throughout the apartment.
Giuliani stated last week that it is “possible” that the jersey was moved during that time period.
He also stated that the bankruptcy filings contained “inconsistencies” as well as “some things I didn’t have.”
Giuliani also stated that he “just can’t find” a signed picture of former New York Yankees legend Reggie Jackson among the memorabilia listed in court documents.
“I get confused about what I have and don’t have,” he admitted on January 3. “I know you find that difficult, your honor, but I was blessed with a tremendous amount of Yankees memorabilia…” I am not hiding anything.”
Following Trump’s defeat in the 2020 election, Giuliani launched a bogus campaign to overturn election results in states he lost. In Georgia, he falsely accused Freeman and Moss of manipulating election results, sparking a wave of harassment and abuse against the women.
They sued him for defamation in Washington, D.C., and in December 2023, a jury awarded them $148 million.
He then filed for bankruptcy, but after a lengthy legal battle, the case was dismissed earlier this year, allowing Giuliani and his numerous creditors to fight for control of his assets in separate courtrooms overseeing the lawsuits against him.
Giuliani will face a separate contempt hearing in Washington on January 10 for allegedly violating a court order that prohibits him from repeating defamatory statements about the women.
