Rudy Giuliani, the longtime Trump ally who recently became the subject of a $148 million ruling in a defamation case over lies he told about the 2020 presidential election, is claiming bankruptcy — and a lawyer for the plaintiffs in that case says the bankruptcy proceedings will not stop the pursuit of enforcement.
“This maneuver is unsurprising, and it will not succeed in discharging Mr. Giuliani’s debt to Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss,” Michael Gottlieb, the lawyer, said. Freeman and Moss recently secured a significant win on their path to collecting on at least some of that massive judgment against the ex-mayor, with presiding Judge Beryl Howell granting their request to allow them to immediately bring forth the judgment from the defamation case in other jurisdictions to seek restitution.
The duo, a mother and daughter who Giuliani and others falsely accused of involvement in non-existent election fraud, expressed concerns in court about the evident lack of assets tied to Giuliani in the D.C. judicial jurisdiction where the case unfolded combined with his history of brushing off financial obligations.
He also faces mounting debts, including some obligations possibly soon to be added to that total where the amounts aren’t clear but sums could be large. Giuliani remains the subject of additional defamation litigation from Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic, two election technology companies about which Trump’s circles including Giuliani himself spread lies. Despite investigations conducted by local, state, and federal authorities, no substantial evidence proving the claims against Freeman, Moss, Dominion, or anyone else implicated in these conspiracy theories has ever been found.
Giuliani, though, is still lying, and Freeman and Moss also sued him a second time, seeking an injunction that would stop him from making similar statements against them in the future. They’ve faced threats in connection with the spread, including from Trump himself, of the conspiracy theories about them.
“This maneuver is unsurprising, and it will not succeed in discharging Mr. Giuliani’s debt to Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss.”
— Michael Gottlieb, attorney for Freeman & Moss https://t.co/ErghmHc8Pp
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) December 21, 2023
