Rudy Guiliani ‘Punished’ By Georgia Judge For Trump

According to Mediate, n the defamation lawsuit filed by two Georgia election workers against Rudy Giuliani, the federal judge presiding over the case has issued a scathing order against Giuliani, including a default judgment and significant fines for failure to comply with discovery. The lawsuit is one of several stemming from false claims of widespread fraud during the 2020 election.

The defamation case was filed by Wandrea “Shaye” Moss and her mother Ruby Freeman, who were falsely accused of election fraud by Giuliani and others, resulting in harassment and death threats. Giuliani had already conceded in July that his statements about Freeman and Moss were false and that he knew they were false, admitting key elements for a defamation claim.

However, Giuliani’s refusal to comply with court-ordered discovery, which included disclosing his financial assets, drew strong criticism from Judge Beryl A. Howell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The judge’s order included the following actions:

1. A fine of $43,684 for Giuliani’s discovery violations.
2. An order to pay $89,172.50 for the plaintiffs’ attorneys’ fees for enforcing the discovery motion.
3. A default judgment against Giuliani on liability for defamation, emotional distress, civil conspiracy, and punitive damage claims.
4. A threat of an adverse jury instruction if Giuliani fails to comply with the discovery order by September 20, 2023.

The adverse jury instruction means that if Giuliani does not provide the required documents and information about his financial assets, the jury will be instructed to infer that he was intentionally trying to hide relevant discovery about his financial assets to artificially deflate his net worth. Even if he complies with the order, the jury may still be instructed to infer that he was attempting to hide information.

[I]t is further ORDERED that, as a sanction for defendant’s failure timely to reimburse plaintiffs’ $89,172.50 in attorneys’ fees by July 25, 2023, the jury will be instructed that they must, when determining an appropriate sum of punitive damages, infer that he is intentionally trying to hide relevant discovery about his financial assets for the purpose of artificially deflating his net worth, unless he produces fulsome responses to plaintiffs’ RFP Numbers 40 and 41 by September 20, 2023, in which case, the mandatory instruction may be converted to a permissive one.