Judge orders Giuliani to immediately pay $148 million in damages

A federal judge on Wednesday ordered Rudolph W. Giuliani to immediately pay the $148 million he owes to two former election workers in Georgia for falsely accusing them of tampering with ballots after the 2020 election, citing the concern that he might “hide his assets” if he were allowed to do so. to wait.

The decision by the judge, Beryl A. Howell, was the latest legal defeat for Mr. Giuliani, who is facing a series of woes over his efforts three years ago to keep former President Donald J. Trump in office after his election defeat. But even though Judge Howell has ordered early payment, there is no indication that Mr. Giuliani, whose long-standing financial troubles have only worsened, will come close to paying the amount he owes.

On Monday, a few days after a Washington jury awarded damages to Mr. Giuliani, election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss asked Judge Howell to waive the standard 30-day waiting period and force him to pay them as soon as possible.

In their request to Judge HowellThe women, who are mother and daughter, said Mr. Giuliani had already failed to comply with other court orders in the case related to the money he owed them. They also noted that Mr. Giuliani, once a U.S. lawyer and mayor of New York, was hounded by his creditors, including his former lawyer, and saddled with “significant debts that threatened his personal solvency.”

“There is extremely good reason,” the women’s attorneys wrote, “to believe that Defendant Giuliani intends to avoid payment of the judgment by any means necessary.”

In an order of 13 pagesJudge Howell agreed with virtually everything Ms. Freeman and Ms. Moss said about Mr. Giuliani, who admitted that he lied about the women before his trial this month to determine damages in Federal District Court in Washington. Before the trial began, Judge Howell ruled that Mr. Giuliani was liable for defamation, civil conspiracy and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

During the trial, Ms. Freeman and Ms. Moss described how they were subjected to a barrage of threats and racist abuse after Mr. Giuliani, then Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer, ordered his millions of social media followers to watch a video of them in a vote-counting center in Georgia, claiming without any basis that they cheated Mr. Trump when they counted votes on Election Day.

“Giuliani just confused me, you know,” Ms. Freeman told the jury.

Wednesday’s decision to accelerate the payments was justified, Judge Howell wrote, given Mr. Giuliani’s history as an “uncooperative litigant.” The judge said he had a track record of ignoring her orders to pay the women’s legal fees and costs associated with requests for discovery materials.

“Giuliani weakly refutes concerns that he is hiding assets, stating that there is no evidence in the record of any attempt by him to dissipate assets,” she wrote. “This statement simply ignores the ample evidence in this case of Giuliani’s attempts to hide or disguise his assets.”

Although Mr. Giuliani could still appeal the damages awarded by the jury, Judge Howell pointed out that the amount the jurors came up with was actually “conservative.” As part of his appeal, he could ask for an immediate deferment, although as Judge Howell noted, he would still have to post a bond to show he was good for at least some of the money if he lost .