The settlement between Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss and Rudy Giuliani was announced on January 16, 2025, the morning a Manhattan trial was set to begin over his Florida condominium and Yankees World Series rings. Under the deal, Giuliani paid the mother-and-daughter former Fulton County election workers an undisclosed sum, promised never to defame them again, and in exchange was allowed to keep his New York co-op, his Palm Beach condo, his personal belongings, and, through his son Andrew, three World Series rings. The agreement contained no admission of liability. A satisfaction of judgment filed on February 24, 2025, confirmed that Giuliani had “fully satisfied” the roughly $146 million judgment, interest, and attorneys’ fees.1Reuters. Giuliani Has Fully Satisfied Georgia Election Workers $148 Million Judgment
What Giuliani Kept and What He Gave Up
The dollar figure Giuliani paid has not been made public. Neither side disclosed the financial terms of the settlement.2CNN. Rudy Giuliani Georgia Election Workers Defamation Settlement
What is known is what changed hands before the settlement and what was left in Giuliani’s possession after it. In November 2024, Giuliani had already surrendered a 1980 Mercedes-Benz once owned by Lauren Bacall, several luxury watches, a ring, and an undisclosed amount of bank funds. His attorneys said his New York apartment was “virtually empty” when the plaintiffs’ representatives arrived, and he had not provided the paperwork needed to sell the items he did hand over.3ABC News. Giuliani Turns Mercedes Watches Georgia Poll Workers Defamed
The properties that had been the biggest prizes for the plaintiffs stayed with Giuliani. His Upper East Side cooperative apartment, valued at roughly $5 million, and his Palm Beach condominium, valued at approximately $3 million, were both preserved under the deal. So were three New York Yankees World Series rings, which passed to his son Andrew.4PBS NewsHour. Lawyers Allowed Into Giuliani’s NYC Apartment After He Misses Deadline to Turn Over Assets
In a joint statement, Freeman and Moss said: “We have agreed to allow Mr. Giuliani to retain his property in exchange for compensation and his promise not to ever defame us.”2CNN. Rudy Giuliani Georgia Election Workers Defamation Settlement Giuliani’s representative, Ted Goodman, said that while the plaintiffs’ attorneys could take the former mayor’s possessions, “they can never take away his extraordinary record of public service.”5ABC News. Rudy Giuliani Pays $148 Million Fulton County Election
Why the Payment Was Never Going to Match the Judgment
Giuliani’s total assets were estimated at no more than $10 million, CNN reported at the time of the settlement. Against a judgment of roughly $146 million, that gap meant Freeman and Moss were never realistically going to collect the full award.2CNN. Rudy Giuliani Georgia Election Workers Defamation Settlement The settlement traded the certainty of ending years of litigation and an enforceable promise against future defamation for the properties the women could otherwise have pursued.
How the $148 Million Judgment Came About
Freeman and Moss sued Giuliani in December 2021 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, alleging defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and civil conspiracy after he falsely accused them of manipulating ballots at State Farm Arena during the 2020 election.6Protect Democracy. Freeman Moss Giuliani Verdict Giuliani claimed at a Georgia legislative hearing that Moss had handed her mother a thumb drive “like they were vials of heroin or cocaine.” The object was a ginger mint.7Courthouse News Service. Giuliani Loses by Default in Defamation Case Brought by Georgia Poll Workers
The case never reached a full trial on liability. After Giuliani repeatedly failed to produce financial records in discovery, Chief Judge Beryl A. Howell entered a default judgment against him on August 30, 2023, finding him liable on all claims as a discovery sanction.8NPR. Judge Finds Rudy Giuliani Liable for Defamation of Two Georgia Election Workers A four-day damages trial followed in December 2023. On December 15, the jury returned a verdict of $148,169,000, later reduced by the court to approximately $146 million.9NBC News. Rudy Giuliani Judgment Defamation Case Former Georgia Election Workers
What Pushed Giuliani to Settle
Six days after the verdict, on December 21, 2023, Giuliani filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the Southern District of New York, triggering an automatic stay of collection.10CBS News. Giuliani Bankruptcy $148 Million Defamation Judgment That shield did not last. In July 2024, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane dismissed the case with prejudice, barring Giuliani from refiling for a year and ordering him to pay $100,000 of roughly $400,000 in outstanding administrative expenses within one business day, with the balance due upon the sale of either his New York or Florida property.11NBC News. Judge Issues Order Dismiss Rudy Giuliani Bankruptcy Case Collection efforts resumed.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman in Manhattan then oversaw the asset-turnover process, and Giuliani’s resistance drew sanctions from two courts within days of each other. On January 6, 2025, Judge Liman found him in civil contempt for stalling on asset and discovery orders, barring him from introducing certain evidence at the coming trial over his Florida condo.12NPR. Rudy Giuliani Contempt Defamation Judge Howell separately found him in contempt in Washington for continuing to make false statements about Freeman and Moss on his web show in violation of a court order, imposing a $200-per-day fine and warning that further violations could bring imprisonment.13ABC News. Federal Judge Holds Rudy Giuliani Contempt Court Repeating Ten days after Judge Liman’s contempt ruling, the settlement was announced.
The Final Court Filings
The satisfaction of judgment filed in Manhattan federal court on February 24, 2025, confirmed that Giuliani’s obligations to Freeman and Moss, including the judgment, interest, and attorneys’ fees, had been “fully satisfied.”1Reuters. Giuliani Has Fully Satisfied Georgia Election Workers $148 Million Judgment Giuliani’s appeal in the D.C. Circuit, docketed as case number 24-7021, was terminated two days later, on February 26, 2025.14CourtListener. Ruby Freeman v. Rudolph Giuliani
What the Settlement Did Not Address
The agreement resolved only the civil defamation case. It contained no admission of liability or wrongdoing by Giuliani.15PBS NewsHour. Trial Over Rudy Giuliani’s Florida Home Is Delayed Due to the Former NYC Mayor’s Unexplained Absence It also did not touch a separate defamation suit Freeman and Moss brought against The Gateway Pundit, its founding editor Jim Hoft, and contributor Joe Hoft, which settled in October 2024 on undisclosed terms.16CNN. Gateway Pundit Settles Defamation Suit Georgia
Giuliani’s professional standing was handled in different proceedings. A New York appellate court disbarred him on July 2, 2024, finding that his false claims about the 2020 election “threatened the public interest, democracy and the legal profession.”17New York Law Journal. Rudy Giuliani Is Disbarred, Removed From New York Rolls The D.C. Court of Appeals followed with a permanent disbarment on September 26, 2024, through reciprocal discipline.18ABC News. Giuliani Permanently Disbarred Practicing Law District Columbia