(PatriotWise.com) — Former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani lost his motion to dismiss the multi-million-dollar defamation judgment he was ordered to pay to two former Georgia election workers, ABC News reported.
Mother and daughter Ruby Freeman and Wandrea Moss sued Guiliani last year, claiming he defamed them after the 2020 presidential election when he accused them of committing election fraud when they were counting ballots at State Farm Arena in Fulton County.
In testimony before the Georgia legislature in December 2020, Giuliani claimed that video footage that was circulating online showed the two women “obviously surreptitiously passing around USB ports as if they’re vials of heroin or cocaine.”
During the trial, two investigators from the Georgia Secretary of State’s office testified that the two women returned to State Farm Arena late at night after Secretary of State Raffensperger extended ballot county hours. They said the women were there to help expedite counting and not to rig the voting, as Giuliani suggested.
A federal jury in late December ordered Guiliani to pay the women $148 million.
Following the jury verdict, Guiliani filed for bankruptcy in a New York court after a federal judge ordered him to pay the judgment.
In February, a bankruptcy judge ruled that the former New York City mayor could appeal the verdict, provided he used pre-approved donors to cover the legal expenses from an appeal.
In appealing the judgment, attorneys for Guiliani argued that the statements he made about Freeman and Moss were protected by the First Amendment and were not made in malice.
Ted Goodman, a spokesman for Guiliani said in a statement at the time that no one could reasonably believe that Giuliani would be able to pay the high putative judgment.
In her April 15 decision, US District Judge Beryl Howell said Giuliani’s request to override the jury’s verdict was based on “five threadbare arguments” that fell “well short” of persuading the court that the evidence was “so one-sided” that no reasonable person would have reached the same verdict.
In filing for bankruptcy, Giuliani listed his net worth as between $1 million and $10 million. He claimed to owe over $151 million to creditors.
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