Rudy Giuliani Held In Contempt Of Court In Defamation Case, Judge Says

NEW YORK CITY — A federal judge on Monday ruled that former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani was in contempt of court for failing to properly hand over assets in his $148 million defamation case.

Judge Lewis Liman found that Giuliani did not properly comply with evidence production requests and may have purposely withheld his assets from lawyers for Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and her daughter Wandrea “Shaye” Moss.

In October, Liman ordered Giuliani to turn over his luxury Manhattan apartment, among other valuable possessions, to Freeman and Moss, Patch previously reported.

According to Guilani, he sometimes did not turn over evidence requested because "he believed the requests were overly broad or inappropriate, or even a "trap" set by lawyers for the plaintiffs."

He also pointed to the numerous criminal and civil court cases he is involved in as the reason he had trouble turning over information.

The election workers' lawyers told Liman on Monday that the former mayor had turned over a Mercedes-Benz and his New York apartment, but not the paperwork necessary to monetize the assets.

In addition, 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 has previously said he could not afford food after all of his finances were seized due to the ongoing defamation case, Patch previously reported.

The Associated Press contributed reporting