Rudy Giuliani appealed a verdict on Tuesday ordering him to pay $148 million to two Georgia election workers for defaming them after the 2020 election, hours after a court said he could use preapproved donors to pay his expenses.
In December, an eight-person jury awarded Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, the massive judgment after the former New York City mayor was found to have disparaged their reputation with claims that led to a flood of violent threats. Giuliani had accused them of attempting to commit fraud in Georgia as part of a larger effort to overturn former President Donald Trump‘s 2020 election defeat.
Giuliani filed for bankruptcy in New York in December after the federal judge in his Washington, D.C, case said Giuliani must begin paying the two women despite his massive deficit in funds. On Tuesday, the bankruptcy judge assigned to his case in New York gave Giuliani permission to appeal the defamation verdict but held he must seek a judge’s approval before accepting any third-party payment of fees and expenses and said that those fees cannot stem from Giuliani’s existing assets.
“Any fees and expenses incurred by the Debtor and his advisors in the Freeman Litigation in connection with any Post-Trial Filings and the Notice of Appeal shall not be paid by, and shall not result in a claim against, the Debtor or his estate,” U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane wrote in a three-page order.
Shortly after Lane’s order, Giuliani appealed the $148 million verdict against him, according to court records.
At the time of the decision, Giuliani described the jury’s decision as an “absurdity” and said he believed it would be “reversed so quickly it will make your head spin.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Giuliani also faces charges in the Fulton County election interference case for his alleged role in Trump’s effort to overturn the election in Georgia. Several other co-defendants, including Black Voices for Trump founder Harrison Floyd and former Kanye West publicist Trevian Kutti, have been charged in the case for their alleged roles in trying to convince Freeman to confess to election fraud allegations.
The former president’s lawyer has faced a string of financial setbacks in addition to the shockingly high judgment against him from December. In September, his former lawyer, Robert Costello, sued him over claims that Giuliani owed him more than $1.36 million in unpaid legal fees.
