An 8-panel jury in DC Rudy Giuliani ordered to pay Shaye Moss and Ruby Freeman roughly $148 million in damages for defamation.
The payouts included Moss being awarded $16,998,000, Freeman being awarded: $16,171,000, and each being awarded an addition $20 million apiece for emotional distress.
The ruling came at the end of the jury’s second day of deliberations on Friday over how much money former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani must pay two former election workers he defamed, Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss.
On Thursday Giuliani’s defense team rested following his decision not to testify on his own behalf. He had been slated to be the only witness for the defense.
Freeman and Moss, who are mother and daughter, are seeking between $15.5 million and $43 million from Giuliani for defamation, according to court documents, after Giuliani admitted he lied when he accused them of election fraud.
Freeman and Moss each took the stand during the trial, testifying that Giuliani’s false accusations against them tore their lives apart, forcing them to move from their hometown after the lies sparked a barrage of threats.
“I miss my old neighborhood because I was me. I could introduce myself. Now I don’t have a name really,” Freeman said under oath.
Their statements follow Moss’ testifimony in June 2022 during a televised hearing of the House Select January 6 Committee. She revealed how a mob of Trump supporters had targeted her and her mother, both online and in person, after consuming debunked conspiracy theories about their actions on Election Day 2020, to the point where Moss said she and Freeman felt safe “nowhere.”
Giuliani, the former Mayor of New York City who was advising Trump on efforts to overturn the 2020 election, falsely claimed that Moss and Freeman could bee seen on video passing USB drives “like vials of heroin or cocaine” while counting ballots in Fulton County, Georgia.
Moss testified to Congress that what her mother was actually passing to her was “a ginger mint.”
U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell has already found Giuliani, former Mayor of New York City, liable for defamation. In September Howell fined the former Trump attorney and his businesses more than $132,000 for failing to hand over discovery to the election workers’ legal team, and an additional $104,000 to the pair for their legal expenses. The defamation damages, once determined by the jury, will be levied against Giuliani on top of Howell’s fines.
Giuliani, who has claimed that he’s strapped for cash, is also being sued by his former attorney Robert Costello and Costello’s lawfirm over nearly $1.4 million in unpaid legal bills.
Meanwhile, Giuliani is among 19 co-defendants, including former President Trump, who were indicted in July on racketeering and other charges related to the attempt to overturn the 2020 Presidential election in Georgia.
PHOTO: Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss arrival, January 6 Committee hearing
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