The former ‘mayor’ of New York Rudolph W. Giuliani, who helped former President Donald Trump with the strategy to challenge the 2020 election defeat, was ordered this Friday to pay 148 million dollars, about 136 million euros. to two former state elections in Georgia. officials, who had sued him for defamation.
Judge Beryl Howell, of the Federal Court of Washington DC, had already convicted Giuliani of defaming former employees: Ruby Freeman and Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, mother and daughter, who were at a polling place in 2020. This Friday a jury of eight people will determine the amount of compensation, the international press reports.
In addition to $40 million for insults to the honor of the two plaintiffs, Giuliani was ordered to pay $16 million to each of them for psychological damages and another $75 million in compensatory damages.
As he left the court, Rudy Giuliani (the diminutive name by which he is known in the US) appeared unmoved and challenged the jurors’ decision. “I don’t regret anything,” he stated, describing the amount of compensation as “absurd”, meaning he will have to appeal the decision, the American daily The New York Times wrote.
During the trial, the same newspaper reported, the prosecutors’ “emotional testimonies” made it possible to understand their suffering since December 3, 2020, shortly after Giuliani first publicly suggested through the social network Twitter that Ruby Freeman and “Shaye Moss is alleged to have helped defraud the election process in Georgia, one of the swing states whose outcome is decisive for the candidates’ victory.
The two women were caught in a barrage of revenge and hatred, with “offensive messages and phone calls, threats and racist attacks.” “There were those who told them that they should be hanged or lynched and that they would like to hear the sound of their necks being snapped,” wrote The New York Times.
Giuliani admitted in statements to journalists that the attacks and threats against the two complainants had been “deplorable” and “heinous” but did not consider himself responsible. Joseph Sibley, a lawyer for the former mayor, emphasized that he cannot be held responsible for the abuse against the two former employees.
Giuliani’s income and net worth are unknown because he declined to notify the court. CBS News, quoted by the BBC, said the figure could be $50 million, despite debts of about half a million in taxes. American lawyers consulted by The New York Times admit that he will go bankrupt, which still does not absolve him of the responsibilities now declared by the American courts.
This trial in Washington DC was just one of many lawsuits Giuliani is facing for helping to promote the narrative that there was fraud against Trump in the November 3, 2020 US presidential election, the BBC wrote on its website. One of his employees also sued him for alleged sexual harassment. Donald Trump, who has never distanced himself from Giuliani, will have organized himself
in September, a fundraising dinner for his friend’s defense, with each guest contributing $100,000.
Source: DN
