Judge hints that Rudy Giuliani’s contempt hearing concerning his assets may not end in his favor

A federal judge in New York is hinting that Rudy Giuliani may not fare well in his upcoming contempt hearing. Giuliani, the former New York City mayor and former personal lawyer to President-elect Donald Trump, is facing challenges as two Georgia election poll workers seek to collect a $148 million defamation award they were granted against him.

Judge Lewis J. Liman in Manhattan issued an order on Friday showing his dissatisfaction with Giuliani and his lawyer’s efforts to avoid providing information to the election workers’ legal team.

The judge warned that during the contempt hearing, the litigants must be prepared to justify why he should not consider a request from the workers’ lawyers to draw negative conclusions from the evidence. This could result in Giuliani having to give up his Palm Beach, Florida, condominium to settle the defamation debt.

The judge also said he may rule on the contempt request at the hearing.

Giuliani has maintained that the Palm Beach property is his personal residence now and should be shielded from the judgment. He faces a Jan. 16 trial before Liman over the disposition of his Florida residence and World Series rings.

Lawyers for the election workers filed the contempt request after saying Giuliani had failed to turn over a lease to his Manhattan apartment, a Mercedes, various watches and jewelry, a signed Joe DiMaggio shirt and other baseball momentos. The judge ordered Giuliani to turn over the items in October.

Giuliani’s lawyers have predicted that Giuliani will eventually win custody of the items on appeal. A request for comment was sent to a lawyer for Giuliani, who was supposed to be deposed on Friday.

The contempt hearing follows a contentious November hearing in which Giuliani, a former federal prosecutor, became angry at the judge and said Liman was treating him unfairly.

Giuliani was found liable last year for defaming the two Georgia poll workers by falsely accusing them of tampering with ballots during the 2020 presidential election.

The women said they faced death threats after Giuliani falsely claimed they sneaked in ballots in suitcases, counted ballots multiple times and tampered with voting machines.