A federal judge will hold a contempt hearing next Friday for Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor, as he seeks to recover $148 million in defamation damages won by two Georgia election investigators. It suggests things may not end so well for the former president-elect Donald Trump's personal lawyer. against him.
Manhattan Judge Louis J. Lehman issued an order Friday rejecting attempts by Mr. Giuliani and his lawyers to avoid providing information to the Election Commission's lawyers.
He also argued why attorneys for two election officials should not grant a request that they draw adverse inferences from the evidence in a case that could jeopardize Giuliani's Palm Beach, Fla., mansion. The litigants said they should be prepared to explain themselves at the contempt hearing. For being handed over to satisfy an award for libel.
The judge also said he may rule on the contempt motion at a hearing.
Mr. Giuliani argued that the Palm Beach property is now his personal residence and should be protected from the judgment.
He will go on trial before Lehman on January 16 over the disposition of his Florida residence and World Series ring.
Lawyers for the election commission accused Giuliani of not handing over his Manhattan apartment lease, Mercedes, various watches and jewelry, an autographed Joe DiMaggio shirt and other baseball moments. filed a criminal complaint.
A judge ordered Giuliani to turn over the belongings in October.
A request for comment was sent to a lawyer for Giuliani, who was to be removed from office on Friday.
In October, Mr. Liman ordered Mr. Giuliani to turn over much of his valuable property to poll workers. Mr. Giuliani's lawyers expect Mr. Giuliani to eventually win custody of the items pending appeal.
The contempt hearing follows a controversial November hearing in which Mr. Giuliani, a former federal prosecutor, was furious with the judge and claimed that Mr. Liman was treating him unfairly.
Giuliani was found guilty last year of defaming 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 Mr. Giuliani falsely claimed he had sneaked ballots into suitcases, counted them multiple times and tampered with voting machines.
