A bankruptcy judge gave Rudy Giuliani the green light to seek a new trial to challenge the $148 million defamation verdict won by two Georgia election workers after Rudy got railroaded by an Obama judge and was unable to present any evidence at trial.
Last month Rudy Giuliani filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection one day after Obama-appointed Judge Beryl Howell ordered immediate enforcement of Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Wandrea “Shaye” Moss’s $148 million judgment against him.
Judge Beryl Howell
According to Bloomberg, Giuliani listed $500 million in debts and between $1 million and $10 million in assets.
The bankruptcy filing put the litigation on hold and now the judge is allowing Giuliani to seek a new trial to challenge the outrageous $148 million judgment.
“He’s currently suspended from the practice of law, so he can’t earn income right now as a lawyer,” Giuliani’s lawyer Gary Fischoff said, according to Reuters. “There’s no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, and the debtor is going to give full disclosure.”
Excerpt from Reuters:
A U.S. bankruptcy judge on Friday gave Rudy Giuliani limited permission to challenge a $148 million defamation verdict won by two former Georgia election workers whom he had falsely accused of fraud after former Republican President Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane said at a court hearing in White Plains, New York, that he would allow Giuliani to seek a new trial to challenge the amount of damages awarded to Wandrea “Shaye” Moss and her mother, Ruby Freeman, but not pursue a full appeal. But first, Lane said, Giuliani will have to provide more information about who is paying his legal bills.
Gary Fischoff, an attorney for the former Trump lawyer, told Lane that Giuliani cannot pay the $148 million verdict, much less have anything left over to pay others who have sued him.
Giuliani has told the bankruptcy court that third-party legal defense funds are footing the bill for cases he is facing related to his 2020 election claims, and that they have already paid $847,000 to cover his defenses. Fishcoff said Giuliani intends to provide further information on his funding sources next week.
The defamation suit was related to Giuliani’s statements about the two Georgia election workers seen on surveillance video from the State Farm Arena tabulation center on election night in 2020.
Video played at a Georgia Senate hearing in December 2020 allegedly showed the election workers scanning ballots without an independent state monitor present.
Judge Beryl Howell unilaterally decided that Rudy Giuliani was guilty of defamation after he was late turning in a financial statement in the lawfare case.
A DC jury last month decided then that Giuliani should pay the two plaintiffs $148 million in the DC courtroom.
Rudy Giuliani was not allowed to present any evidence on his behalf in the court proceedings.
“Freeman and Moss subsequently asked the judge to “permit immediate enforcement” of the judgment out of concern that the former New York City mayor could attempt to “find a way to dissipate [his] assets before plaintiffs are able to recover.” – ABC News reported.
“Judge Beryl Howell agreed Wednesday that Giuliani’s record as an “unwilling and uncooperative litigant” provides the plaintiffs “good cause to believe that he will seek to dissipate or conceal his assets” before paying them,” the outlet reported last month.
Ruby Freeman and Wandrea “Shaye” Moss sued Rudy Giuliani again on Monday seeking to “permanently bar” him from making public statements about them related to their involvement in counting ballots in the 2020 presidential election.
“The two women asked the court to prevent Giuliani from “making or publishing … further statements repeating any and all false claims that plaintiffs engaged in election fraud, illegal activity, or misconduct of any kind during or related to the 2020 presidential election.” ABC News reported.
Judge Beryl Howell decided Giuliani was liable for defaming Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss because he didn’t turn over electronic devices the FBI confiscated from him.
Because of the default judgment, Rudy Giuliani was unable to present any evidence, including the State Farm Arena surveillance video, to back up his claims.