Rudy Giuliani was nowhere to be seen when his trial in a federal courtroom in Manhattan was scheduled to begin on Thursday morning.
Four hours later, with a post on social media, the former New York City mayor celebrated a settlement in a long-running legal battle for control of his properties and assets.
A trial was set to determine whether Donald Trump’s former attorney can exempt his Florida condo and three World Series rings from a long list of assets he has been ordered by a court to hand over to two women he defamed in the volatile aftermath of the 2020 presidential election.
The court-ordered property seizures intended to chip away at the nearly $150 million he owes them after a blockbuster defamation verdict.
Giuliani was already forced to hand over the keys to his 1980 Mercedes Benz convertible, his Upper East Side penthouse apartment and more than a dozen watches after a protracted legal battle.
The settlement appears to let Giuliani hold on to his properties after all, “in exchange for compensation,” according to the women he defamed.
But it was not immediately clear how the cash-strapped Giuliani — who filed for bankruptcy shortly after a jury awarded election workers $148 million in damages more than two years ago — will be able to pay them anything at all.
Last week, following a two-day hearing in the same courtroom, Giuliani was found in contempt of court for repeatedly blowing deadlines and dodging court orders. A few days later, in a different court with a different judge in Washington, D.C., Giuliani was held in contempt for repeatedly lying about the women he defamed more than four years ago.
“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. Today is a major milestone in our journey,” now-former election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss said in a statement following Thursday’s announcement.
“We have reached an agreement and we can now move forward with our lives,” they said. “We have agreed to allow Mr. Giuliani to retain his property in exchange for compensation and his promise not to ever defame us.”
In his statement, Giuliani said he will maintain possession of both his New York apartment and his Florida property, as well as “all” of his “personal belongings.”
“No one deserves to be subjected to threats, harassment, or intimidation. This litigation has taken its toll on all parties,” he wrote. “This whole episode was unfortunate. I and the Plaintiffs have agreed not to ever talk about each other in any defamatory manner, and I urge others to do the same.”
In a joint letter to District Judge Lewis Liman, attorneys for Giuliani and the election workers said the settlement will “result in the conclusion of all litigation currently pending between and among the Parties.”
His attorney Joseph Cammarata would not disclose the terms of the settlement. He told reporters that the agreement came together “over the last 72 hours.”
But Giuliani was not there to deliver the news in person.
Attorneys for both parties zoomed in and out of the judge’s chambers and other private rooms on the 15th floor of a federal courthouse on Thursday, buzzing around the courthouse without any sign of the former mayor or comment on his whereabouts. His son Andrew Giuliani — who claims that the World Series rings were a gift from his father — lurked in the courthouse lobby. His attorney sat by himself in the courtroom.
But more than an hour after Giuliani’s trial was set to begin, he posted a video to his X account featuring a pomeranian named Vinny at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.
“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.
Following Trump’s defeat in the 2020 election, Giuliani launched a spurious bid to reject election results in states the former president lost. In Georgia, Giuliani falsely accused Freeman and Moss of manipulating election results, which fueled a wave of harassment and abuse directed at the women.
They sued him for defamation in Washington, D.C., and in December 2023, a jury awarded them $148 million in damages. Giuliani’s short-lived bankruptcy case was dismissed last year, letting Giuliani and his many creditors battle for control of his assets in separate courtrooms overseeing the lawsuits against him.
In the property turnover case, attorneys for the defamed election workers accused the disbarred former mayor of willfully violating court orders and blowing past deadlines in the hopes of dragging out the case. They also accused him of hiding assets in shell accounts and refusing to answer questions about his residency, after he claimed that his Palm Beach condo should be off limits because it’s his primary residence.
Giuliani initially failed to stall Thursday’s would-be trial until February so that he could attend Trump’s inauguration on January 20. The settlement appears to free him for travel.
