Judge Kicks Rudy In The D*ck So Hard He Lands In Chapter 11
What comes after FIND OUT?
Last Friday, after a four-day trial, a jury in DC ordered Rudy Giuliani to pay Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss $148 million for defamation and emotional distress.
The ruling was not unexpected, particularly since the only issue for the jury was how big a check Rudy was going to have to cut for his eleventy million lies about the Atlanta poll workers feeding fraudulent ballots into tabulators on election night. Giuliani, who once served as US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, proved unwilling and/or unable to comply with basic discovery. He’s already blown off orders to pay almost $240,000 in sanctions, and in August Judge Beryl Howell gave Rudy “death penalty sanctions,” awarding the plaintiffs a default judgment against him.
Now these ladies would like to be paid. Or more accurately, they would like the court to give them the green light to go attach all of Rudy’s assets, particularly in New York and Florida, where he owns homes.
In fact, they would have liked to have been able to get a jump on this two months ago, at least with respect to the $240,000 in sanctions he owed them. But in September Judge Howell said, “I hear ya, but give it a minute for the jury to weigh in.” Well, more or less.
But that time has now come, and the court is strapping a rocket aimed straight at Rudy’s ass to the plaintiffs’ claims. To be specific, she’s waiving the requirement that they wait 30 days from the date of judgment to start attaching the defendant’s assets, as a sort of post-death penalty uber-sanction.
“As the Court is aware, Defendant Giuliani has already proven himself to be an unwilling and uncooperative litigant, including with respect to this Court’s orders to pay attorney’s fees and costs,” they wrote on Monday, noting that Rudy owes money to everyone in town and is being sued by Dominion, Smartmatic, Hunter Biden, and even his own lawyers. “Under these circumstances, there is a severe risk that Defendant Giuliani will use whatever time he has to alienate or dissipate what assets are available to satisfy even a small portion of Plaintiffs’ judgment.”
Rudy’s lawyer Joe Sibley IV responded that his client could have moved his assets any time during the past two years of litigation, and anyway, maybe this case will get overturned on appeal, or the DC Circuit might reduce the award. He even had the temerity to suggest that the plaintiffs be ordered to put up a bond themselves if they intend to start collecting on the debt right away.
This was akin to waving a red flag at a very angry bull. Judge Howell does not suffer fools gladly, and Rudy has behaved like a damn fool for two straight years.
First she reminded the defendant that the plaintiffs are in no position to know about his assets, since he refused to cooperate with discovery.
Giuliani dismisses plaintiffs’ reasons for expedition in trying to collect on their compensatory and punitive damage award, cheekily responding that “[i]f Giuliani had intentions of absconding with or fraudulently transferring assets, he has had ample time to do it,” and that plaintiffs “point to no evidence to demonstrate that what Giuliani could have done for years now, he will do in the next 30 days.” Giuliani’s position thus appears to be that just as he has shielded his true financial status from examination by refusing to comply with discovery rules and court orders, he could have already effectively used that shield to hide his assets to avoid paying plaintiffs’ judgment against him.
She also notes that, while his lawyer scoffs that Rudy could have concealed his assets over the past two years, he never quite comes out and promises that his client won’t do it now that the plaintiffs are trying to collect.
Judge Howell also wishes Rudy LOTSA LUCK getting that jury verdict reduced, since the compensatory award came in below the expert witness’s recommendation, and the punitive damages of $75 million was about level with it — not the 4X multiplier where appeals courts generally start looking askance.
And finally, with respect to the bond, the court acidly noted that Rudy could stay the judgment himself if he would simply post a supersedeas bond with the court. In plain English, the losing party can post 100 percent of the amount owed, or can buy a commercial bond, typically paying 10 percent of the face value. So if Rudy could come up with $148 million, or even $14 million (assuming he could get someone to write the bond), he could put this judgment off for a good while yet.
But of course, neither one of those things is remotely possible, because Rudy’s broke as a joke. In fact …
BREAKING! Rudy is bankrupt, and not just morally this time.
In a filing this morning in the Southern District of New York (his old stomping grounds!), Rudy declared assets of less than $10 million, with debts between $100 million and $500 million. Ten of his top 20 largest debts are to people who have sued him. And while he might be able to discharge his debts to his phone company or lawyers, he’s not going to be able get out of what he owes for malicious torts. Like defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
In summary and in conclusion, Merry Christmas, Asshole. Love Beryl, Ruby, and Shaye.
OPEN THREAD!
[Freeman v. Giuliani, Docket via Court Listener / Giuliani Bankruptcy Docket, via Court Listener]
Catch Liz Dye on Opening Arguments podcast and at her Substack Law and Chaos.
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You know what? With Rebecca out today and probably exhausted tomorrow, we're gonna call this one the OPEN THREAD and save up some drafts for morning, is what we're gonna do. Now settle down back there, I need to write TABS for tomorrow, you kids.
Had lunch with my son this noon. Some of you might remember that he unleashed a torrent of f-bombs when I said "no" to his latest request for money to bail him out of a self-inflicted crisis. This was after I had turned myself inside out helping him transition to a new place. Time for him to do for himself, I said at the time.
Well, at long last, he apologized. I must say, he's looking happier and a lot healthier than the last time I saw him, and he's now taking care of his business. He doesn't quite have all his ducks in a row, but he is making progress. Grace and forgiveness abides, and I'm feeling better about things.