Ruby Freeman and Wandrea “Shaye” Moss faced a barrage of racist and sexist threats following Giuliani’s false claims.
Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor who served as Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, has been ordered to pay $148 million in damages to two former election workers he defamed with false claims about the 2020 presidential election.
An eight-person federal jury in Washington, DC, said Friday that Giuliani must pay Ruby Freeman and her daughter Wandrea “Shaye” Moss $75 million in damages, plus $36 million for defamation and emotional distress, for falsely claiming that they have tried it. to rig the election against Trump.
The award comes after Freeman and Moss, two former poll workers in Fulton County, Georgia, testified that Giuliani’s false claims made them the targets of a barrage of racist and sexist threats.
In court, Moss and Freeman, who are black, described being in fear for their lives after being falsely accused of hiding ballots in suitcases, counting votes multiple times and meddling with voting machines.
Freeman testified that she fled her home after the FBI told her she was not safe, and Moss told jurors that she rarely leaves her home and suffers from panic attacks.
“Our greatest wish is that no one, no election worker, voter, school board member or anyone else, ever experiences anything like what we experienced,” Moss told reporters after the verdict. “You all matter, and you are all important.”
A federal judge found Giuliani liable in August and left it to a jury to decide the amount of damages.
Giuliani, who had argued that his election comments were not related to the threats the women received, called the jury’s verdict absurd.
The “absurdity of the number only underlines the absurdity of the entire procedure,” he said.
“It will be reversed so quickly it will make your head spin, and the absurd number that just came in will actually contribute to that.”
Giuliani also claimed that his comments were “supportable and remain supportable today.”
Giuliani’s attorney, Joseph Sibley, had acknowledged that his client had caused harm but argued that the $48 million fine demanded by the two election workers would be “the end” for Giuliani and that he was a “good man.”
The verdict adds to a growing list of legal and financial troubles for Giuliani, who, before joining Trump’s inner circle, was known as “America’s mayor” for guiding New York through the aftermath of the 11 attacks. September 2001 led.
Giuliani, along with Trump and 17 others, have been charged with participating in an illegal plot to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.
In 2021, Giuliana’s licenses to practice law in New York and Washington DC were suspended due to his false statements about the 2020 election.
In September, the 79-year-old former prosecutor was sued by his former attorney for allegedly paying just a fraction of $1.6 million in outstanding legal fees.
He is also being sued by Hunter Biden, President Joe Biden’s son, for alleged computer fraud and by a former employee for alleged wage theft and sexual harassment.
