Former Trump campaign attorney Rudy Giuliani has been ordered to pay a staggering $148 million to two former Georgia election workers he spread lies about following the 2020 election.
The decision on Friday comes at the end of a week-long federal civil trial in Washington, D.C., where an eight-person jury heard from the workers — Wandrea "Shaye" Moss and her mother Ruby Freeman — about how 2020 election conspiracies spread by Giuliani and former President Donald Trump turned their lives upside down.
"I was afraid for my life," Moss said during her testimony on Tuesday. "I literally felt that someone would attempt to hang me and there was nothing anyone could do about it."
Giuliani watched intently as the verdict was read, using a stylus on a touch-screen device, apparently taking down notes on the figures he’d been ordered to pay. After leaving the courtroom, the former New York mayor and onetime attorney to former President Donald Trump vowed to appeal.
The saga is being closely watched in Missouri, where Moss and Freeman are also suing Gateway Pundit in St. Louis Circuit Court for defamation and emotional distress.
Founded by brothers Jim and Joe Hoft, Gateway Pundit was among the first to identify Freeman as one of the election workers accused by Trump and his allies of ballot fraud in Georgia.
“What’s Up, Ruby,” the site’s headline read in early December. “BREAKING: Crooked Operative Filmed Pulling Out Suitcases of Ballots in Georgia IS IDENTIFIED.”
In Georgia, Mr Giuliani faces criminal charges, including making false statements, in an election-subversion case against Mr Trump. Mr Giuliani has pleaded not guilty.
A former business associate is also suing him for $10m over sexual harassment claims.
And according to recent court filings from the Internal Revenue Service, Mr Rudy Giuliani owes more than half a million dollars in federal taxes.
In September, Mr Trump reportedly hosted a $100,000-a-plate dinner at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, to raise money for a legal defence fund for Mr Giuliani.
Back in 2018, Mr Giuliani's divorce case heard claims of his lavish spending. His ex-wife, Judith Giuliani, said that in a five-month period he spent nearly a million dollars.
This was said to include $12,012 on cigars, $7,131 on fountain pens, $286,000 on an alleged mistress, $447,938 "for his own enjoyment" and $165,000 on travel.
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