Rudy Giuliani must pay Georgia election workers $148 million as they accuse them of helping to steal the 2020 race: US mayor faces financial ruin from massive damages in defamation case

Rudy Giuliani is facing financial ruin after a court ordered him to pay an astonishing $148 million for defaming two Georgia election workers he accused of stealing the 2020 election for Joe Biden.

The verdict was a catastrophic blow to the 79-year-old former New York mayor and vindication for election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, who said his accusations triggered a barrage of threats that made their lives hell.

The mother-daughter duo said Giuliani’s lies that they had engaged in voter fraud to rig the election against Donald Trump left them afraid to leave their homes and unable to find jobs.

Giuliani called the damages an “absurd number” and claimed the case would be overturned on appeal “so quickly it will make your head spin.”

The Washington DC jury deliberated for ten hours before returning with a unanimous verdict to award the staggering sums, including:

• $75 million in damages;
• $20 million each for emotional distress;
• $16 million for Freeman and $17 million for Moss for reputational damage

That amounted to a staggering total of $148 million – a figure that seems far beyond Giuliani’s reach.

He is already facing a series of financial setbacks, criminal charges and other civil lawsuits.

The judge appeared to stumble as she read the verdict, stunned by the amounts the jury awarded, and there was an audible gasp in the courtroom.

The plaintiffs’ lawyers had asked for $48 million in damages, but the jury decided to award Freeman and Moss $100 million more than that.

Outside court, Freeman said: ‘Money will never solve all my problems. I can never go back to the house I call home. I will always have to be careful about where I go and who I share my name with. I miss my home. I miss my neighbors and I miss my name.’

Moss said, “Our greatest wish is that no one — no election worker, no voter, no school board member, or anyone else — ever experiences anything like what we experienced.”

“The lies Rudy Giuliani told about me and my mother after the 2020 presidential election changed our lives and the past few years have been devastating,” Moss said of her and Freeman.

Giuliani criticized the decision and said he would appeal and seek a new trial.

“The absurdity of the number only underlines the absurdity of the entire procedure.”

He said he decided not to testify at the trial because “quite frankly, it wouldn’t serve any purpose.”

Giuliani called his past comments “supportable” but claimed he “had no opportunity” to present evidence in the case.

The former New York mayor also denounced the “deplorable” comments the two women received from others following his accusations, but took no responsibility for causing them.

Pressed about why he didn’t testify, he said, “I believe the judge threatened me with the strong possibility of contempt or even going to jail.”

The size of the reward creates a likely draw and an expected legal battle over what the final amount should be and how to ensure Giuliani, 79, pays at least part of it.

It comes after Giuliani doubled down on his accusations against Freeman and Moss outside the courthouse on Monday.

During the trial, Moss testified that her life was “turned upside down” by Giuliani’s false claims that she was guilty of election fraud.

Her lawyer Michael Gottlieb asked the jury to “send a message” by giving the former New York mayor a hefty financial verdict.

An expert witness, Ashlee Humphreys of Northwestern University, had told the court that the two women should be paid between $18 million and $48 million to compensate for the loss of their reputations.

Giuliani repeatedly called out Freeman and Moss as he acted as a key figure in Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election results.

Humphreys said in court this week that there was a huge outburst of online disinformation about them after Giuliani and former President Donald Trump accused them of manipulating vote counts.

Moss said she was subjected to hundreds of racist messages and threats, including messages saying “we know where you sleep” and “you’re dead.”

The court heard there had been 33 million online impressions of Freeman, who at one point called Trump a “professional vote fraudster” in a phone conversation with Georgian Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.

The judge overseeing the case had already convicted Giuliani in absentia, so the trial mainly consisted of determining the damages he had to pay.

Giuliani was already facing major financial risks before the jury reached a verdict.

His lawyer Joseph Sibley argued in court Monday that the two workers were asking for the “civil equivalent of the death penalty.”

He put his Manhattan co-op on the market for $6.5 million, and his former attorney Robert Costello and his law firm sued him this fall over $1.4 million in unpaid bills stemming from multiple investigations.

Giuliani was expected to appear in his own defense. But after he announced on Wednesday that he intended to do so, his lawyer ultimately did not call him.

Giuliani’s attorney, Joseph Sibley, had to resort to reverting to Giuliani’s earlier biography. He invoked his role as mayor of New York City on September 11, calling him a “good man.” In a sign of the evidence he faced, he acknowledged that “my client committed unlawful conduct” against the defendants. He asked for a lower amount even though he admitted that Moss and Freeman had suffered damages.

There was a possible sign Thursday evening after the jury began deliberating and then asked the judge if they could review a presentation by Humphreys about her damage calculations.

The judge denied the request and the jury ultimately went home that night.

It came after a trial in which Giuliani’s lawyer faced a difficult set of facts and a talkative client.

On Wednesday, U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell warned Giuliani about his appearance on a podcast, where he called the case a “political blow” and attacked the integrity of the group of attorneys arrayed against him.

He had said “there might be a few questions about exactly how political this is” and had said money “comes from different directions.”

After being warned directly, Giuliani told the judge that “I thought I could comment on counsel,” but promised not to do so in the future.

The judge didn’t believe it and said so. “A lot of accidents happen here, Mr. Giuliani,” she said.

The verdict comes as Giuliani faces criminal liability after being indicted as part of a conspiracy to overturn the election on Trump’s behalf in that state. He has denied being guilty of the charges against him.

Giuliani had alleged that Moss and Freeman pulled “suitcases” full of ballots during the count at Atlanta’s State Farm Arena, claiming they inserted a USB drive into voting machines. But that of the Georgian Minister of Foreign Affairs research felt that the claims circulating online against them ‘have no value whatsoever’.