The Georgia election workers that Rudy Giuliani defamed sued the former Trump attorney again on Monday for continuing to make defamatory statements about them.
Giuliani was found liable in August for defaming Ruby Freeman and her daughter Shaye Moss, after he accused the pair of manipulating ballots in Georgia during the 2020 election. The two women have been subjected to months of harassment and death threats. A judge ordered Giuliani on Friday to pay Freeman and Moss nearly $150 million in damages last week.
Freeman and Moss filed a fresh defamation lawsuit against Giuliani Monday for refusing to take a hint.
“Defendant Giuliani continues to spread the very same lies for which he has already been held liable in the Freeman I action,” the lawsuit said, referring to the previous case.
In fact, on December 15, “just hours after the jury in Freeman I returned a $148 million verdict against him, Defendant Giuliani appeared from Washington, D.C. for a live interview on Newsmax, in which he repeatedly asserted, either directly or at minimum by implication, that he was in possession of video evidence demonstrating the truth of his allegations against Plaintiffs.”
Giuliani has already admitted that he made false statements about Freeman and Moss. In a July court filing, he acknowledged that his “statements carry meaning that is defamatory.” At the time, he insisted he only made that concession to move the lawsuit forward.
Except he moved it forward right to a ruling of liability. And on Friday, a jury decided he owed the mother and daughter $148 million: $16 million each in damages for defamation, $20 million each for emotional distress, and another $75 million in punitive damages.
Monday’s lawsuit is only seeking to bar Giuliani from making or repeating any more false claims about Freeman and Moss. The women have also requested he pay their legal fees for the new suit, but they are not asking for further financial damages
That could be because Giuliani is so hard up for cash that he will likely struggle to make the payments from Friday’s ruling. Giuliani has begun representing himself in court to save some cash. The man once affectionately known as “America’s mayor” is scrambling to find the money for all his legal fees and even listed his Manhattan apartment for sale in July. In August, after he was indicted in Georgia, Giuliani asked his social media followers to donate to his defense fund.
He also flew to Mar-a-Lago to beg his boss Donald Trump to pay him for working as Trump’s personal attorney. That didn’t work, but Trump did agree to host a fundraiser dinner for Giuliani. Entry cost: $100,000 a plate.
What’s more, people keep suing him for money owed. Several of Giuliani’s former lawyers, including his longtime attorney Robert Costello, have sued Giuliani for failing to pay their legal fees.
Meanwhile, Giuliani’s ex-wife says he owes her more than $260,000 for her country club memberships, condominium fees, and health care as part of their divorce settlement. Giuliani narrowly avoided jail time over that lawsuit in December. And one of Giuliani’s former associates sued him in May, accusing him of promising to pay her a $1 million annual salary but instead sexually harassing and abusing her over two years.