Rudy Giuliani, who has spent the last several years hitting rock bottom and somehow keeps hitting rock bottom again and again and again, has been ordered to pay an astonishing $148 million in damages to Ruby Freeman and her daughter Shaye Moss, the election workers he defamed in an effort to keep Donald Trump in power. The figure is more than three times the high-end amount that the women had been seeking, which the former mayor’s lawyer had warned earlier in the week would constitute a civil “death penalty” and “be the end of Mr. Giuliani.”
The jury came to the $148 million by awarding Freeman $16,171,000 for the damage Giuliani had caused to her reputation, awarding Moss $16,998,000 for the damage to her reputation, giving each woman $20 million for emotional distress, and adding $75 million in punitive damages.
By all accounts, Giuliani has nowhere near the amount of money he has been ordered to pay. Over the summer, one of his attorneys said he couldn’t pay his bills, and he’s been sued more than once for failing to pay his debts.
Of course, the jury wasn’t tasked with assessing Giuliani‘s financial situation; they were only asked to decide how much harm he caused Freeman and Moss, which their testimonies revealed this week was a lot, having effectively ruined their lives. On Tuesday, Moss told jurors that after he spread vicious, baseless claims about her and her mother, “I was afraid for my life. I literally felt like someone going to come and attempt to hang me and there’s nothing that anyone will be able to do about it.” She added: “I now am very anxious. I have these nonstop anxious sweats. I have a lot of dark moments. I no longer go out. I will not be caught out anywhere alone, ever…. I look totally different; I gained, like, 70 pounds. I stress eat. I cry a lot. I’m just this whole new stressed-out person.” On Wednesday, Freeman read a selection of the horrifying messages she received as a result of Giuliani putting a target on her and her mother’s backs, which included “Kill yourself now so we can save AMMO“ and “I hope the Federal government hangs you and your daughter from the Capitol dome you treasonous piece of shit! I pray that I will be sitting close enough to hear your necks snap.” She told the jury, “My life is just messed up. It’s really messed up all because somebody put me on blast, just tweet my name out to their millions of followers.”
Giuliani did not testify at the trial, but he did defame the women, again, outside the courthouse on Monday, telling reporters, “Everything I said about them is true.… They were engaged in changing votes.” Outside the court on Friday, Moss and Freeman said they were grateful for the verdict. “The flame that Giuliani lit with those lies and passed to so many others to keep that flame blazing changed every aspect of our lives, our homes, our family, our work, our sense of safety, our mental health,” Moss said. She added that they hope no election worker “ever experiences anything like what we went through. You all matter, and you are all important. We hope no one ever has to fight so hard just to get your name back.” Freeman said: “A jury stood witness to what Rudy Giuliani did to me and my daughter and held him accountable. And for that I’m thankful. Today is not the end of the road. We still have work to do. Rudy Giuliani was not the only one who spread lies about us, and others must be held accountable too.” Giuliani said he will appeal the verdict.
While Friday’s verdict is clearly a devastating blow to the man once known as “America’s mayor,” it pales in comparison to what may be coming next: time in prison for attempting to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia. (Giuliani has pleaded not guilty.)
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