Rudolph W. Giuliani has reached a settlement with two Georgia election workers who he repeatedly, and falsely, claimed had helped to steal the 2020 election.
The former mayor of New York was at risk of losing millions of dollars worth of personal mementos, valuables and real estate that he had gathered over his decades practicing law and then in public office. He had previously been ordered to pay down some $11 million of a $148 million judgment he owed the election workers, Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Shaye Moss, who he claimed had manipulated ballots.
The full details of the settlement have yet to be released, but a letter signed by both sides in the case said that, once certain conditions were met, it would result “in the conclusion of all litigation.”
Mr. Giuliani declared victory and said he was going to hang onto all of a treasure trove of items that included a 10-room apartment on the Upper East Side, a vintage Mercedes-Benz convertible and a signed Joe DiMaggio jersey.
The plaintiffs said through their legal team that they had agreed to allow Mr. Giuliani to retain his property and other belongings in exchange for an undisclosed amount of compensation and his promise not to defame the women again.
“The past four years have been a living nightmare. We have fought to clear our names, restore our reputations and prove that we did nothing wrong,” the women said in the statement. “Today is a major milestone in our journey. We have reached an agreement and we can now move forward with our lives.”
Joseph Cammarata, a lawyer for Mr. Giuliani, said outside the courthouse on Thursday that the negotiations were hammered out “over the last 72 hours,” and that his client was satisfied with the outcome.
He also declined to discuss the status of sanctions that Mr. Giuliani faced for being found in contempt in two courts tied to the defamation case. The sanctions could have included the possibility of jail time.
In a statement, Mr. Giuliani reiterated that he will hold onto the Manhattan cooperative and a Palm Beach, Fla., condo., his most valuable assets.
But it is unclear how Mr. Giuliani will pay the undisclosed sum to the two women he defamed. He had said in court that the suit had exhausted all his financial resources. He still faces criminal charges in two states and other civil actions related to the 2020 election.
The settlement came after a dramatic day in court, in which Mr. Giuliani was expected to take the stand to plead for the right to keep the Florida apartment and three Yankees World Series rings.
But he never showed up.
For hours, lawyers paced the courtroom in Lower Manhattan, and the judge, Lewis J. Liman, did not took the bench.
The reason for Mr. Giuliani’s absence was not immediately clear, but more than an hour after the trial was set to begin, a video was posted on his X account of a lap dog named Vinny wearing a tie emblazoned with the word Trump.
“Vinny loves hanging out at Mar-a-Lago, but he’s ready to spend a lot more time in Washington, D.C. over the course of the next four years in support of his favorite President—Donald J. Trump!” the message said.
Mr. Cammarata declined to say where Mr. Giuliani was during the trial.
It had appeared until Thursday that Mr. Giuliani’s baseless claims about the workers would cost him millions of dollars in assets. He had been uncooperative in handing over much of the property, which led to his being held in contempt of court earlier this month.
Mr. Giuliani was expected to be the lead witness in court on Thursday, followed by his son, Andrew Giuliani, who was expected to testify that his father gave him the three World Series rings — personally made for the former mayor after the Yankees’ championship wins in 1996, 1999 and 2000 — and that therefore they should not be seized.
Andrew Giuliani said after the trial that he will get to keep the rings.
“Today is a good day,” he said, adding that he was proud of his father.
Mr. Giuliani had long sought a postponement of the trial, because he said it would interfere with his plans to attend events around Mr. Trump’s inauguration in Washington.
Mr. Giuliani, 80, once a federal prosecutor for the same New York court district where the trial was to take place, was disbarred from the practice of law in New York, where he was born and raised, and in Washington, D.C., last year for attempting to undermine the 2020 election results.
The settlement comes at an auspicious time for Mr. Giuliani. Judge Liman last week held him in contempt for failing to answer basic questions that might have substantiated his claim that his Palm Beach condo was his primary residence and therefore exempt from seizure under Florida law.
Mr. Giuliani was also held in contempt in a Washington court last week for continuing to make defamatory comments about the two election workers. The judge in that case, Beryl A. Howell, said that any further violations could land him in jail.
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