Rudy Giuliani keeps dodging the $146 million judgment against him for defaming two Georgia poll workers in 2020, and now the women’s lawyers are trying to figure out where Giuliani is keeping his money.
On Monday, lawyers subpoenaed Standard USA, a limited liability company that was incorporated in Florida on Aug. 30 by Giuliani’s long-rumored girlfriend, Maria Ryan. Attorneys trying to track down Giuliani’s assets filed court records stating that Giuliani holds an 88% ownership interest in the new venture, and they’re demanding to know “all property of any kind” and “all financial accounts” that have been allegedly hidden within the corporation.
After a four-day trial in December 2023, a D.C. jury concluded that Giuliani was responsible for upending the lives of Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, a mother and daughter who were subjected to death threats after Giuliani spread lies about election fraud in 2020.
But the women’s lawyers have been fighting to seize those assets ever since. A federal judge threatened Giuliani with contempt sanctions if he didn’t turn over vast amounts of personal property by this Friday. At a court hearing, U.S. District Judge Lewis J. Liman called it “farcical” that Giuliani wouldn’t know where his assets are right now — especially after the former New York mayor showed up at a polling station in Palm Beach County driving one of the items in question: a 1980 Mercedes-Benz 500SL once owned by Hollywood superstar Lauren Bacall.
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Giuliani has also been ordered to turn over a Manhattan apartment in a neighborhood just blocks away from Central Park, any money he’s still owed for serving as a lawyer to Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign and the Republican National Committee, cash held at two Citibank accounts, a long list of sports memorabilia and 26 watches that include luxury timepieces by Franck Muller, Tiffany & Co. and Shinola.
Giuliani’s lawyers have been trying to fend off property seizures, asking the judge to consider granting him a so-called “homestead exemption” for creditor protection at his New York apartment and a Palm Beach waterfront condo. Meanwhile, lawyers for Freeman and Moss have pointed out that “an individual cannot simultaneously maintain two homesteads” and argued that Giuliani’s last-minute effort is too late anyway.
In late October, Freeman and Moss’ lawyers visited Giuliani’s New York apartment, only to discover that he’d emptied the place weeks earlier. They promptly complained to the judge, writing: “Save for some rugs, a dining room table, some stray pieces of small furniture and inexpensive wall art, and a handful of smaller items like dishes and stereo equipment, the apartment has been emptied of all of its contents.”
Even the sports memorabilia and expensive furniture were nowhere to be found.
Last week, the judge warned that time will be up this Friday, Nov. 15, for Giuliani to turn over the assets.
While Giuliani’s legal team is trying to buy more time, the plaintiffs’ lawyers say that any delay should only come if Giuliani’s new shell company first answers a few questions.
On Monday, Aaron E. Nathan, a New York attorney with Willkie Farr & Gallagher who represents Freeman and Moss, filed a “restraining notice” claiming that Standard USA is “hereby forbidden” from selling off any assets that tie back to Giuliani. The company, which only lists a Giuliani associate as a company manager, is based at the Southlake condos — a six-story building surrounded by palm trees that overlooks the 43-mile Intracoastal Waterway.
Monday’s subpoena demands that the company identify its funds or property, anyone with a financial interest in the firm, paperwork for any bank accounts showing when they were opened and by whom and even “gifts” that Giuliani may have transferred its way.
Giuliani’s lawyers did not respond to a request for comment midday Monday.
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Jose Pagliery is a reporter at NOTUS.
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