ATLANTA — Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani was found to be in contempt of court for not turning over his assets to two Fulton County election workers after Giuliani was found to have defamed them following the 2020 election.
Judge Lewis J. Liman ruled Monday that Giuliani had failed to properly comply with evidence production requests over the last few months.
Some of those assets include a valuable signed Joe DiMaggio jersey that appeared to disappear after Giuliani said he last saw it around Sept. 11 in his Manhattan apartment.
Giuliani finished up his testimony Monday by appearing remotely from his Florida residence, where he explained why some assets and the paperwork related to them have been hard to locate and forfeit.
Giuliani conceded during Monday’s testimony that he sometimes did not turn over everything requested because he believed the requests were overly broad or inappropriate or even a “trap” set by lawyers for the plaintiffs.
RELATED STORIES:
- Giuliani fights to keep Florida condo, World Series rings despite judgments against him
- Rudy Giuliani ordered to appear at contempt hearing to give up assets to Fulton election workers
- Giuliani says he can’t find new lawyer to take case, blames judge
- Former GA election workers ask for ‘severe’ sanctions against Rudy Giuliani
- Rudy Giuliani scolded by judge after courtroom outburst accusing him of being unfair
- Former Fulton election workers say Rudy Giuliani continues to defame them, want more penalties
He also said he sometimes had trouble turning over information regarding his assets because of numerous criminal and civil court cases requiring him to produce factual information.
Giuliani, 80, said the demands to turn over materials made it “impossible to function in an official way” about 30% to 40% of the time.
The election workers’ lawyers say Giuliani has displayed a “consistent pattern of willful defiance” of Liman’s October order to give up assets after he was found liable in 2023 for defaming their clients by falsely accusing them of tampering with ballots during the 2020 presidential election.
They said in court papers that he has turned over a Mercedes-Benz and his New York apartment but not the paperwork necessary to monetize the assets. And they said he has failed to surrender watches and sports memorabilia, including a Joe DiMaggio jersey, and has not turned over “a single dollar from his nonexempt cash accounts.”
Giuliani said Monday that he was investigating what happened to the DiMaggio jersey and that he currently doesn’t know where it is or who has it.
Aaron Nathan, a lawyer for the election workers, asked the judge to make inferences about what Giuliani had not turned over — such as the list of his doctors over the last four years — that would make it more likely the court would conclude that the Palm Beach property was not Giuliani’s primary residence and thus is not protected from seizure.
Joseph Cammarata, Giuliani’s attorney, said reaching such a conclusion would be like a civil “death penalty” and would cause Giuliani to lose the Florida property even before a trial in mid-January, when the judge is supposed to hear testimony and view evidence before deciding the disposition of the condominium and World Series rings.
Giuliani has insisted that the Palm Beach property is his personal residence now and should be shielded from the judgment.
His lawyers have predicted that he will eventually win custody of the items on appeal.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.