Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump's former personal attorney and leader of the former Republican president's campaign to overturn the 2020 election results, was ordered Friday to pay about $148 million to two election agents he defamed.
• Also read: Court photo of former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani revealed
Lawyers for Ruby Freeman and her daughter Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, two election officials from the state of Georgia (Southeast), had each sought at least $24 million in federal court in Washington.
The jury awarded each of them nearly $17 million in compensatory damages, $20 million for moral damages and a total of $75 million in compensatory damages, American media reported.
Ms Moss read a statement outside court, describing the “devastating” years she and her mother endured because of “Rudy Giuliani's lies”.
“The flame that Giuliani lit with these lies, and that he passed on to many others to fan that flame, has changed every aspect of our lives, our homes, our families, our work, our sense of security and our mental health,” she said .
Based on a video showing the mother and daughter passing an object – which turned out to be a mint tablet – during the counting of ballots, the ex-mayor and ex-district attorney of New York confirmed that they exchanged a USB flash drive ” as if they were doses of heroin or cocaine” to falsify the results.
The complainants, both black, told how these allegations, picked up by Donald Trump on social media, brought them a barrage of insults and threats, often of a racist nature.
“Giuliani wasn’t the only one”
After acknowledging the falsity of his allegations against the two election officials in July, Mr. Giuliani reiterated on Friday that he had “no doubt that his statements were valid then and now,” but that he had been prevented from providing evidence to present.
“The absurdity of this amount only underlines the absurdity of the entire process. I am therefore confident that if this case reaches a fair court, it will be dismissed very quickly,” he assured, announcing his intention to appeal.
When asked about his possible regret over the attacks suffered by the two women, he admitted that “these statements were disgusting” but assured that he was in no way responsible for them.
“Rudy Giuliani wasn’t the only one spreading lies about us, and others need to be held accountable, but that will be later,” Ruby Freeman said in a likely reference to Donald Trump.
Judge Beryl Howell had already found Rudy Giuliani guilty of defamation in August and ordered him to reimburse the legal fees of the two election workers.
Rudy Giuliani, who is said to be virtually ruined, is also being sued by a law firm that represented him for several years, demanding $1.3 million in unpaid debts.
Rudy Giuliani was indicted by Georgia courts in August along with Donald Trump and 17 others on charges of gerrymandering to overturn the results of the 2020 election in that key state.
Four of the 19 defendants who were originally charged on August 14, specifically under an organized crime law, have already pleaded guilty. In exchange for their testimony in the future trial of the other defendants, they received reduced sentences with no prison time.