Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, was ordered Friday to pay more than $148 million to two election officials he defamed during the 2020 presidential election. Lawyers for Ruby Freeman and her daughter Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, two electoral agents from the state of Georgia (southeast), had demanded in Washington federal court at least $24 million for each. But the jury awarded them each nearly 17 million dollars in compensation, 20 million for moral damage, and a total amount of 75 million in damages, specified the American media.
Great financial difficulty
“The absurdity of this amount only underlines the absurdity of the entire procedure,” responded Rudy Giuliani in a statement to journalists leaving the court, suggesting that he would appeal. “So I am confident that when this case comes before a fair court, it will be overturned very quickly,” he added.
Known to be in serious financial difficulty, Rudy Giuliani is also being sued by a law firm which represented him for several years and is claiming $1.3 million in unpaid debts. Based on a video showing the mother and her daughter passing an object – which turned out to be a mint tablet – during the counting of the ballots, the ex-mayor and ex-prosecutor of New York affirmed that they exchanged a USB key “as if they were doses of heroin or cocaine” to fake the results.
Guilty of defamation
The complainants, both black, recounted how Rudy Giuliani’s accusations, taken up by Donald Trump on his social networks, had earned them a flood of insults and threats, often of a racist nature. Judge Beryl Howell had already found him guilty in August of defamation of the two women and ordered him to reimburse them for their legal fees.
Rudy Giuliani was criminally indicted in August by the Georgia courts along with Donald Trump and 17 others for illicit manipulation to reverse the results of the 2020 election in this key state. Four of the 19 defendants initially targeted by the indictment issued on August 14, notably under a law on organized crime, have already pleaded guilty. They were sentenced to reduced sentences, without prison time, in exchange for their testimony at the future trial of the other defendants.