Rudy Giuliani’s apartment was emptied weeks ago, victims in defamation lawsuit say

CNN
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Rudy Giuliani is set to appear in federal court Thursday after two campaign workers set to receive nearly all of his most valuable assets told a judge they believe the former Donald Trump lawyer is hiding items from them.

The complaint by campaign workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss — whom Giuliani owes nearly $150 million for defaming them after the 2020 election — comes after lawyers for the mother and daughter visited Giuliani’s $6 million Manhattan apartment and discovered much of the furniture and valuable sports memorabilia. was recently removed.

“With the exception of some rugs, a dining table, some stray pieces of small furniture and cheap wall art, and a handful of smaller items like plates and stereo equipment, the apartment has been emptied of all its contents.” Freeman and Moss’ attorney Aaron Nathan wrote in a letter to the judge in the case.

They are also trying, as ordered by the court, to seize Giuliani’s 26 luxury watches and a 1980 Mercedes-Benz that he had in Florida. But they also have not been extradited, court documents said this week.

Nathan said Giuliani and his lawyers’ approach to the bankruptcy proceedings is one of “evasion and silence.”

Lawyers for Freeman and Moss had gone to the apartment last week to figure out how best to move the luxury items inside, which were now theirs, according to the judge’s order, for safekeeping.

But the apartment was “essentially empty,” Nathan wrote. The expensive furniture Giuliani had used in estate photos of the property earlier this year was moved out four weeks ago, he said.

Judge Lewis Liman ordered Giuliani to appear in court later this week.

Giuliani’s lawyer told the court on Tuesday that the former New York mayor cannot come to the federal courthouse in Manhattan on Thursday because Giuliani will be doing a live radio show from his Palm Beach apartment that evening.

“We note that broadcasts such as those described above currently provide Mr. Giuliani’s sole source of employment income,” Giuliani’s attorney, Kenneth Caruso, told the court. “We respectfully suggest that a loss of income and the expense of travel to New York should be avoided if possible.”

The judge denied the request.

Giuliani’s radio show is for a media platform started by right-wing “MyPillow” boss Mike Lindell. The show took him to the Republican National Convention this summer, and Giuliani has since appeared as a campaign spokesman for Trump, including at the former president’s recent rally at Madison Square Garden.

Giuliani was still being driven around in the Mercedes on Tuesday even as he went to vote in Florida, according to several photos taken by news outlets that found the former mayor at his polling place in Palm Beach. The classic car, a blue-gray convertible, was once owned by Hollywood star Lauren Bacall, and Giuliani is pictured sitting in the passenger seat, leaning far back, wearing an American flag T-shirt and a Fire Department of New York baseball cap.

Asked about his use of the car a week after he was required to transfer it to Moss and Freeman under a court order, Giuliani’s spokesman Ted Goodman told CNN that Giuliani’s lawyers had requested documentation to transfer the vehicle’s title.

Moss and Freeman’s team have already complained to the judge that Giuliani used the car on Tuesday and have submitted the photos to the court.

Separately, Giuliani’s lawyers say the property that was in the Manhattan apartment is now in a warehouse on Long Island, but Freeman and Moss’s team say they are also fighting to access things there.

The women are also still in court trying to convince the judge that they should be able to take control of a $3.5 million Palm Beach condo where Giuliani says he now lives and four Yankees World Series -rings from the 1990s and 2000 championships, which Giuliani’s son says he received as a gift from his father.

This story has been updated with additional details.