Giuliani Ordered to Hand Mercedes to Poll Workers Next Week
(Bloomberg Law) -- Rudolph Giuliani must relinquish his Mercedes-Benz to two 2020 presidential election workers next week, a federal judge said Thursday.
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Judge Lewis J. Liman of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York issued the directive during a status conference in his Manhattan courtroom. The conference was scheduled after the poll workers, who hold a $146 million defamation judgment against Giuliani, said he’s refused to turn over assets despite a court order.
The judge appeared frustrated at times as Giuliani lawyers indicated that the location of some assets is unclear. Giuliani said he didn’t want to say who else may know where his assets are because those people, whom he didn’t identify, have been “tortured” by plaintiffs’ attorneys during the discovery process.
“I don’t want to sacrifice them,” Giuliani told the judge. “This isn’t really a case.”
Liman ordered Giuliani to identify who else may know where his assets are, and that failure to comply with his orders could result in a contempt hearing.
“The notion that your client has no knowledge of where his assets are is farcical,” Liman said to Giuliani’s lawyers.
Giuliani’s attorney, Kenneth Caruso, told Liman that he believed the Mercedes could be exempt from collection efforts because it may be worth less than $4,000. He asked for time to valuate the vehicle, a request Liman rejected as too late.
He ordered Giuliani to provide the keys, title, and location of the Mercedes next week. Giuliani was photographed on Tuesday in the luxury car outside of a Palm Beach, Fla., polling location.
Giuliani was ordered last month to put into a receivership his Manhattan luxury apartment, cash accounts, jewelry, sports memorabilia, a large collection of luxury watches, the 1980 Mercedes-Benz SL 500, and an estimated $2 million claim for unpaid 2020 Trump campaign legal fees to satisfy the $146 million court judgment.
Plaintiff attorney Aaron E. Nathan of Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP told the court that efforts to obtain most of the property has been met with “gameplay.”
The former New York City mayor was combative Thursday, telling reporters outside the courthouse that the defamation case, brought by plaintiffs Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea’ Moss, was “political persecution” and a “political, vindictive case orchestrated by Biden.”
Giuliani on Oct. 22 was ordered by Liman to deliver his assets to Freeman and Moss within seven days to satisfy the pair’s legal victory over Giuliani for falsely accusing them of tampering with 2020 election ballots.
Freeman and Moss began pursuing efforts to collect from Giuliani after his bankruptcy case was dismissed in August, leaving him without protection against creditors seeking to collect on debts he owes. The bulk of his estate consists of two multimillion-dollar residences: the Manhattan penthouse apartment and a condominium in Palm Beach, Fla. The New York apartment had previously been on the market for nearly $5.7 million.
But most of the Manhattan co-op’s contents, such as art, expensive furniture, and sports memorabilia, were emptied out weeks ago, attorneys for Moss and Freeman said. He hasn’t answered questions about where the majority of his receivership property is, they said.
Transfer of the Manhattan apartment to the pair is tied up in “paperwork issues” with the co-op and is now outside of Giuliani’s control, according to a letter his lawyer filed with the court on Wednesday. In addition, no property that belongs to Giuliani has been removed from his Manhattan apartment “in violation of a Restraining Notice,” he said.
Giuliani’s attorney also said his property, including the luxury wristwatches, are at his Palm Beach condo. He’s been given no instructions about what to do with them, and no one has been sent to collect them, he said.
Freeman and Moss are also represented by United to Protect Democracy and DuBose Miller LLC. Giuliani is represented by Kenneth Caruso Law LLC and Labkowski Law PA.
The case is Freeman v. Giuliani, S.D.N.Y., No. 24-00353, hearing 11/7/24.
To contact the reporter on this story: James Nani in New York at jnani@bloombergindustry.com
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Maria Chutchian at mchutchian@bloombergindustry.com
(This story has been updated with additional background from the hearing in several paragraphs.)
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