A federal jury has ordered Rudolph Giuliani, Donald Trump's former lawyer, to pay more than $148 million to two Georgia election workers in 2020.
The payment, according to the court, was necessary after Giuliani “destroyed their reputations and caused them extreme emotional distress” by spreading “baseless lies and conspiracy theories” that the two – Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss – had tried to steal from Trump Victory by falsifying the voting results.
Freeman and Moss, who are mother and daughter, described during the trial how their lives were turned upside down after December 3, 2020, when Giuliani first accused them of trying to change the outcome of the Georgia election to Trump's disadvantage to change. According to their statements, the two officers were subjected to racist insults and violent threats.
Giuliani, who was also mayor of New York, had already been found guilty of defamation months ago – the jury now only had to determine the amount of damages. The two women had sought compensation that was well below the amount set by the jury: $47 million.
Giuliani described the amount of compensation as “absurd” and has already announced that he will “certainly appeal” the decision. “The absurdity of the number underlines the absurdity of the entire process,” he said.
Joseph Sibley, Giuliani's lawyer, acknowledged in court that his client had harmed the two officers, but called the potential impact of $47 million in compensation “catastrophic.”