ATLANTA — A jury in Washington, D.C. has found that Rudy Giuliani must pay $148 million after promoting lies about two Fulton County election workers following the 2020 election.
The Associated Press said there was an audible gasp in the courtroom when the jury foreperson read aloud the $75 million award in punitive damages for Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss.
The mother and daughter volunteered to count votes at Atlanta’s State Farm Arena during the 2020 presidential election. Giuliani accused the two of mass voter fraud.
Moss and Freeman were each awarded another roughly $36 million in other damages.
“Money will never solve all my problems,” Freeman told reporters outside the courthouse after the verdict. “I can never move back into the house that I call home. I will always have to be careful about where I go and who I choose to share my name with. I miss my home. I miss my neighbors and I miss my name.”
Giuliani vowed to appeal the verdict, saying the “absurdity of the number merely underscores the absurdity of the entire proceeding.”
“It will be reversed so quickly it will make your head spin, and the absurd number that just came in will help that actually,” he said.
In July, Giuliani admitted to making false statements about Freeman and Moss. A federal judge later ruled that the attorney and former New York City mayor defamed the pair and ordered him to pay tens of thousands of dollars in lawyers’ fees.
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Following the 2020 election, Giuliani testified in front of Georgia lawmakers trying to convince them that video from the arena showed Freeman and Moss committing massive voter fraud.
“Tape earlier in the day of Ruby Freeman, Shaye Freeman Moss and one other gentleman quite obviously, surreptitiously passing around USB ports as if they’re vials of heroin or cocaine,” Giuliani said at the time.
Multiple state and federal investigations proved they weren’t.
Moss later testified before the Jan. 6th Committee and explained what was really in that video.
“What was your mom actually handing you in that video?” Rep. Adam Schiff asked Moss.
“A ginger mint,” Moss said.
A federal judge already decided that Giuliani did defame Freeman and Moss in a default judgment in August.
The judgment adds to growing financial and legal peril for Giuliani, who was among the loudest proponents of Trump’s false claims of election fraud that are now a key part of the criminal cases against the former president.
Giuliani had already been showing signs of financial strain as he defends himself against costly lawsuits and investigations stemming from his representation of Trump. His lawyer suggested that the defamation case could financially ruin the former mayor, saying “It would be the end of Mr. Giuliani.”
The judgment could have an impact on Giuliani’s defense against the racketeering charges he’s facing here in Fulton County and his financial ability to fight them.
ABC News and the Associated Press contributed to this article.
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