Rudy Giuliani apartment transfer is “very strange”—legal analyst

A judge’s decision to transfer Rudy Giuliani’s apartment to two election workers is highly unusual, a legal analyst has told Newsweek.

Greg Germain, a law professor at Syracuse University in New York, was reacting to Judge Lewis Liman’s order that the former New York mayor must transfer his Manhattan apartment to a receivership set up for two election workers he wrongly accused of election fraud. The apartment, at 45 East 66th Street, is worth about $6 million.

Giuliani accused Freeman and Moss of committing election fraud as ballot counters in Fulton County, Georgia. He circulated an edited clip of security footage that he wrongly claimed showed them passing USB drives. Moss and Freeman sued for defamation, and in December, a Washington, D.C., jury awarded them $148 million.

On Tuesday, Liman ordered that Giuliani, a former lawyer for former President Donald Trump, has one week to transfer the lease to a New York City apartment, a car and other property to the receivership.

The former New York City mayor was ordered to pay Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Shaye Moss, more than $148 million in damages for comments he made undermining the 2020 election results.

Newsweek sought email comment from Giuliani’s spokesman on Wednesday.

“The court appointed the plaintiffs to act as receiver, something I’ve not seen done before,” Germain said.

“Frankly, I think it’s very strange for an adverse party to serve as a receiver. The court says that New York law permits the court to appoint the plaintiffs as receiver, but the judge did not cite any authority for that proposition.”

“While it looks like the judge is ordering the turnover of Giuliani’s cooperative apartment and other personal property to the plaintiffs, he’s really ordering the turnover to the plaintiffs as a receiver to sell the property and apply the proceeds to the judgment,” Germain added.

“The judge suggests that a receiver is more appropriate than the sheriff to sell the property because it’s specialized property that may result in higher sales prices by being marketed for private sales rather than a typical sheriff auction. According to the order, Giuliani agreed to the use of a receiver, although I don’t know if he agreed that the plaintiffs would act as a receiver,” Germain said.

“I will always have to be careful about where I go and who I will be able to share my name with,” Freeman told reporters after winning the defamation case in December. “I miss my name.”

In addition to the apartment, Giuliani has seven days to transfer all rights he has in the $2 million Trump owes him for legal services; cash in his bank account; a 1980 Mercedes-Benz SL500 that was once owned by actress Lauren Bacall; a signed Joe DiMaggio shirt; and more than 20 expensive watches.