Giuliani is found in contempt of court in $148-million defamation case

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani was found in contempt of court on Monday for not fully complying with orders to provide information as he handed over assets to pay a $148 million defamation judgment owed to two Georgia election officials.

A judge, Lewis J. Liman, made a ruling in a contempt hearing after hearing from Giuliani for a second day. Giuliani, who is the former mayor of New York City, appeared for testimony following a move by lawyers representing election workers who claimed he had repeatedly failed to provide evidence requested over the past several months.

Liman said Giuliani intentionally disregarded a specific and unmistakable order from the court when he failed to meet a December 20 deadline to hand over key evidence that would aid in determining whether Giuliani can keep a Palm Beach, Florida condominium as his personal residence or must surrender it because it is considered a vacation home, under an upcoming trial scheduled for later this month.

As a result of the judge's contempt finding, it will be up to the judge at the upcoming trial to determine whether certain missing evidence could demonstrate that Giuliani maintained business ties in New York after claiming to have made Florida his permanent residence on January 1, 2024.

Liman stated he would reserve his opinion on the possibility of additional penalties.

On Friday, Mr. Giuliani testified in court in Manhattan for about three hours, but was allowed to complete his testimony remotely from his home in Palm Beach on Monday.

At the beginning of the hearing on Monday, Giuliani had a backdrop of the American flag, which he stated serves for presentations he conducts online, but the judge ordered him to remove it and replace it with a plain surface.

Giuliani admitted that sometimes he did not hand over all the required documents because he thought the requests were overly broad, inappropriate, or a deliberate "trap" set by the plaintiff's lawyers.

He stated that he sometimes experienced difficulties disclosing details about his assets due to being involved in multiple criminal and civil court cases where he was required to provide accurate information.

Giuliani stated that the demands rendered it "impossible to function in an official capacity" between 30 to 40% of the time.

Lawyers for the election workers claim that Giuliani has shown a "consistent pattern of deliberate refusal" to comply with Judge Liman's October order to turn over assets after being held liable in 2023 for defamation, specifically for making false accusations against their clients of altering ballots in the 2020 presidential election.

Giuliani's team claims in court documents that they have handed over tangible assets such as a Mercedes-Benz and his New York apartment. However, they missed providing the necessary paperwork to put a value on these assets. In addition, Giuliani is accused of failing to surrender items like luxury watches and sports memorabilia, including a rare Joe DiMaggio jersey. Furthermore, they haven't yielded any money from his personal bank accounts that aren't protected by law.

Rudy Giuliani said on Monday that he is looking into an investigation of the whereabouts and ownership of the DiMaggio jersey, stating that he cannot currently pinpoint its location or identify the person in possession of it.

Aaron Nathan, a lawyer representing the election workers, asked Judge Liman to rule on what it means when Giuliani withheld information, such as a list of his doctors from the last four years, that might convince the court that the Palm Beach property was not actually Giuliani's main home and thus not safeguarded from confiscation.

Joseph Cammarata, Giuliani's attorney, noted that such a determination would essentially be a "death penalty" in civil terms, leading to the loss of the Florida property even before the trial starts in about 10 days. It is during that time that the judge will presumably listen to testimony and review evidence in order to determine what should happen to the condominium and World Series rings.

Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani has maintained that the Palm Beach property belongs to him as his personal residence and should therefore be exempt from any impending court ruling.

His lawyers anticipate that he will eventually gain custody of the items on appeal.

A security clearance expert, Mark Neumeister, contributes articles to the Associated Press.