Giuliani faces jail time for defying court orders
Rudy Giuliani is making a federal judge’s job anything but easy.
The former Trump lawyer defied court orders requesting the handover of his swanky penthouse apartment, Yankees memorabilia, and other luxury items totaling $11 million in assets. His missed court appearances and ongoing extensions are leading the federal judge to consider contempt and jail time for the disgraced former New York City mayor.
After Giuliani requested to miss his hearing, U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman said he was skeptical of the late request because Giuliani "does not assert he is unable to travel," that he submitted "no medical evidence," and that he did not follow the proper procedure for such a request.
Liman, who has been overseeing the case, has grown increasingly frustrated with Giuliani’s antics.
"He has presented no evidence why for this hearing, where the Court has been asked to hold him in contempt, where his credibility has been called into question, and where Plaintiffs have asked for an opportunity to cross-examine him in person, he should be permitted to deny Plaintiffs that opportunity and to appear remotely," he wrote in response to Giuliani’s requests.
Giuliani’s case is related to the defamation of two Georgia election workers, in which he made racist remarks and death threats and harassed the workers to push the conspiracy theory that the 2020 election was rigged. Since being found liable, he has been making bizarre posts on social media and making a sleazy cash grab by pushing coffee products and other merch.
In July, Giuliani, who rose to fame as a federal prosecutor and then mayor of New York City during the 9/11 terrorist attacks, was disbarred in New York for pushing pro-Trump election lies. Two months later, he was also disbarred in Washington, D.C.
“His malicious and meritless claims have done lasting damage and are antagonistic to the oath to 'support the Constitution of the United States of America' that he swore when he was admitted to the Bar,” a report from the Board on Professional Responsibility for the Bar of D.C. read.
In addition to giving the court his apartment and luxury items, Liman ordered Giuliani in October to give over a watch gifted to him by French President Emmanuel Macron and a 1980 Mercedes-Benz sports car previously owned by actress Lauren Bacall.
Despite multiple warnings, Giuliani still has not handed over these possessions.
As the weeks and deadlines passed, Giuliani argued that he had, indeed, complied with the order and that some of the items sought by the plaintiffs were not in his possession. Where the items are now remains a mystery—and, frankly, it raises more than a few eyebrows. Lawyers for the Georgia plaintiffs said he continues to defy the court orders regardless of the repeated warnings.
“The Court should see that I gave everything that I could give,” Giuliani wrote to the judge on Christmas Eve.
Giuliani is taking a gamble that he can evade the consequences of his defiance. But with each passing week, the chances of him avoiding jail time appear to grow slimmer.
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