The former New York mayor, Rudy Giuliani has been found in contempt of court after failing to comply with court orders that required him to surrender assets to a pair of previous election workers who he was found guilty of defaming last year.
The pair, Freeman and Moss, were awarded $150 million in damages after being defamed by Giuliani, which would be paid via valuable assets owned by the previous Trump confidant. The assets included a New York Yankees jersey autographed by Joe DiMaggio, his grandfather’s watch, and a signed photo of New York Yankees legend Reggie Jackson, among other assets and information.
Giuliani testified over three hours from his Florida home to questions posed to him as to why he had failed to hand over the assets to settle the damages. He claimed throughout the two day hearing that he had tried to comply with the orders, and that any previous errors were committed by his previous attorney.
He continued to claim that he never intentionally withheld information or his assets, and rather he did not recall seeing specific documents, and never wilfully disobeyed court orders to turn over the required assets.
Giuliani did, however, admit to not giving the pair his grandfather’s 120-year old gold watch, despite it being required under the damages order, as he felt it ‘could get lost’ if he turned it over. He claimed that he ‘gets confused about what I have and don’t have’ when discussing the lack of surrender of his New York Yankees memorabilia.
Judge Liman stated that Giuliani had ‘willfully violated an unambiguous order of the court’ and had ‘attempted to run the clock by stalling’. He continued to outline his frustration with Giuliani’s actions by stating that ‘Discovery is not supposed to be a shell game where the hidden ball is moved around and around.’
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