Judge orders former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani to immediately pay $148mn to Georgia election workers

Former Mayor of New York City Rudy Giuliani has been ordered by a federal judge on Wednesday (Dec 20) to immediately start paying the $148 million he owes to two former election workers in the US state of Georgia after he was found guilty of falsely accusing them of manipulating ballots after the 2020 electionslast week.

What did the judge say?

The decision by Judge Beryl Howell was in response to the former Georgia election workers’ request who sued the former NYC mayor over defamation claims and sought the $148 million.

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The mother-daughter duo, Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss had argued that Giuliani would not have had the money to pay them when the 30-day waiting period on the payouts was lifted and even might have “conceal his assets”.

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The latest decision comes as Giuliani is facing a number of legal woes for his efforts to keep former President Donald Trump in office even though he lost to incumbent Joe Biden.

The former NYC Mayor, who is already strapped for cash, according to the latest order will not have the 30-day stay that would have delayed his payments. Freeman and Moss filed the request days after a jury in Washington DC imposed the fine.

In their request, the mother-daughter duo argued that Giuliani had already failed to obey other court orders in the case related to money that he owed them including women’s legal fees of over $200,000.

Therefore, there is “especially good reason,” lawyers for the women wrote, “to believe that defendant Giuliani intends to evade payment of the judgment by any means he can devise.”

In his 13-page order, the judge said Giuliani has proven to be an “uncooperative litigant,” and that she agreed with Freeman and Moss’ points. Howell added that throughout the case, the former NYC mayor had an “ample record” of efforts meant to conceal or hide financial assets.

What did Giuliani do?

Giuliani was found guilty by an eight-person jury in Washington DC for repeatedly defamingFreeman and Moss and was asked to pay $148 million in damages last week.

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The defamation case centres around Giuliani, then personal lawyer to the former president Donald Trump, directing his millions of social media followers to watch a video of them in a Georgia vote-counting centre and without any evidence claiming that they were manipulating ballots to make Trump lose.

During the trial, the women described how his claims led to a torrent of threats and racist abuse to the point where they left their home in 2021 for two months at the recommendation of the FBI.

The $148 million owed to Freeman and Moss includes $75 million in punitive damages, along with awards of $20 million to each of the two election workers for emotional distress and more than $16 million each for defamation.

Giuliani called the damages figure “absurd” and vowed to appeal.

Howell, in her order, also noted that she did not consider the amount excessive, saying that the “amount of compensatory damages for defamation awarded by the jury was nearly $10,000,000 less than the amount requested by plaintiffs for reputational harm.”

(With inputs from agencies)