Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP
10/23/2024 | News release | Distributed by Public on 10/23/2024 07:40
Court Orders Rudy Giuliani to Turn Property Over to Willkie Clients Following $148M Defamation Verdict
Court Orders Rudy Giuliani to Turn Property Over to Willkie Clients Following $148M Defamation Verdict
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October 23, 2024
A New York federal court has ordered Rudy Giuliani to surrender his apartment and other assets to former election workers Ruby Freeman and Wandrea ArShaye (Shaye) Moss to begin to satisfy the $148.1 million defamation verdict a Willkie pro bono team and co-counsel Protect Democracy secured on their behalf in December 2023.
On October 22, Judge Lewis J. Liman of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ordered Giuliani to transfer most of his personal property, including cash accounts, jewelry and valuables, a legal claim for unpaid attorneys' fees, and his interest in his Madison Avenue co-op apartment, to a receivership within seven days.
The turnover order is the latest victory for Willkie's clients in their yearslong effort to hold Giuliani accountable for spreading lies that Ms. Freeman and Ms. Moss had intentionally undermined the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Willkie and co-counsel previously won the landmark $148.1 million defamation verdict against Giuliani, and subsequently secured the dismissal of Giuliani's bankruptcy case, which had sought to avoid payment of the award. Willkie, along with co-counsel, filed the defamation lawsuit in December 2021.
The Willkie team that secured the asset turnover and enforcement of the judgment against Giuliani was led by partners Michael Gottlieb and Meryl Governski and counsel Aaron Nathan, and included associates M. Annie Houghton-Larsen, J. Tyler Knoblett, Lily Grisafi, Alexis Dorner, Perri Haser and Maggie MacCurdy. Willkie was joined by a team from Protect Democracy led by John Langford.
Read more about Willkie's victory in the defamation case here.