- Rudy Giuliani was in federal court in New York on Thursday in the $148 million election worker defamation case.
- Lawyers for defamed workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss say he has yet to hand over key assets.
- His jersey signed by Joe DiMaggio is in a warehouse on Long Island that he doesn’t have access to, he said.
Where did you go, Joe DiMaggio jersey?
Ronkonkoma, New York, apparently.
A framed Yankees uniform worn and signed by Joltin’ Joe himself no longer hangs on the living room wall of Rudy Giuliani’s Manhattan apartment. On that, both sides of a controversial $148 million election worker defamation case in Georgia agree.
On Thursday, some light was shed on what remains a point of contention: why Giuliani has yet to turn over DiMaggio’s jersey and other sports memorabilia, art and paraphernalia to election workers Ruby Freeman and Wandrea “Shaye” Moss as ordered last month , along with the $5.7 million apartment itself.
Speaking during a federal court hearing in Manhattan, Giuliani’s attorney, Kenneth Caruso, told a judge that the jersey and other items removed from the apartment remain in a locked warehouse in the Long Island village of Ronkonkoma.
Giuliani, however, can no longer enter the storage facility and therefore cannot deliver anything inside it to Freeman and Moss, her daughter, the attorney said.
Plaintiffs can pick up the items at the facility, the lawyer added.
“The facilities there are no longer in his possession,” Caruso told U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman. It’s up to “the owners of the Ronkonkoma facility to return it,” the lawyer added.
Joe DiMaggio’s jersey on the wall of Rudy Giuliani’s apartment. Freeman v. Giuliani/Business Insider
An attorney for Freeman and Moss, meanwhile, told the judge that he was unable to contact anyone at the storage facility, identified in court documents as “America’s First Warehouse” in Ronkonkoma.
A website for The America First Warehouse in Ronkonkoma advertises a podcast of the identical name and shares photos of past events hosted in the space with guests including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, TikTok lib FOUNDER Chaya Raichik and Kellyanne Conway.
The country has also hosted at least eight events in Giuliani’s honor, including a fundraiser for his legal defense fund.
An employee reached by phone Thursday told Business Insider that the warehouse is a “patriotic place,” not a storage facility. A business located on the same lot, Corporate Transfer, is advertised as a storage facility.
The owner of both The America First Warehouse and Corporate Transfer, Joseph Verderber, Jr., did not immediately return a request for comment from BI.
Giuliani’s spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.
Giuliani has yet to turn over any of the assets ordered last month to satisfy a $148 million defamation judgment, including a Mercedes once owned by Lauren Bacall, a “diamond ring” and several luxury watches, the plaintiff’s attorney said. , Aaron Nathan. , said.
Giuliani must also pay back more than $2 million in legal fees he has previously said he is owed by President-elect Donald Trump, money he said Thursday he still does not have.
Instead of complying with the order to surrender the property, Giuliani has been “evasive” or “silent” while also moving money around, including opening bank accounts and forming a limited liability company, Nathan said Thursday.
“He no longer has ownership of it,” Nathan said. “We have repeatedly asked where these things are. He refuses to answer.”
Joe DiMaggio’s jersey is no longer on Rudy Giuliani’s apartment wall, say lawyers in his $148 million defamation case. Freeman v. Giuliani/Business Insider
The judge said that if Freeman and Shaye believe that items from the New York apartment — including sports memorabilia that he referred to as “a few pictures, a shirt” — were not moved properly and that Giuliani is lying, they cannot approaches them. “then plaintiffs may move for contempt.”
The plaintiffs could seek a finding of contempt if Giuliani fails to comply with any of his court orders, the judge said.
“My client is not in possession of the property,” replied Giuliani’s lawyer, to which the judge replied, “He will not be in contempt if he has made efforts and it is impossible to enforce the order.”
Asked after court what the problem with the storage facility might be, Giuliani told Business Insider he didn’t know.
“All they do is keep pushing us around,” he said with a smile.
Giuliani was ordered Thursday to give the plaintiffs’ attorneys the keys and title to the Mercedes, which the former mayor had tried to keep saying it was worth less than $4,000.
“His 54-year-old car is worth less than that,” Caruso argued again on Thursday.
Giuliani was also ordered to continue working with plaintiffs to gain access to the storage facility. He must also provide the plaintiffs with the actual co-op shares in the Manhattan apartment.
The judge had ordered Guiliani on Oct. 22 to hand over many of his possessions, including the apartment, DiMaggio’s jersey, luxury watches and the Mercedes.
Giuliani had tried to file for bankruptcy, but a judge dismissed the case in July.
A federal jury in 2023 awarded Freeman and her daughter, Moss, $148 million to repair their lives after Guiliani made false claims that they manipulated ballots in the 2020 election during Donald Trump’s first bid to returned to the White House.
Giuliani repeatedly said Freeman and her daughter retrieved “illegal” ballots hidden in a suitcase and passed around a USB drive that contributed to Biden’s victory in Georgia, a key state in his electoral victory.
Women received death threats and were subjected to harassment after Giuliani made his claims on social media and his podcast.
The Georgia State Board of Elections investigated the allegations and cleared the women of wrongdoing.