Rudy Giuliani was once a respected politician in the USA. But he has now destroyed this reputation. A jury has now sentenced the ex-Trump confidant to a fine of millions because he accused two election workers of fraud.
Former US President Donald Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, has to pay a fine of millions over defamation allegations. A jury sentenced Giuliani to pay $148 million in damages. He has to pay the money to two former election workers in the US state of Georgia.
Giuliani had already been found liable in the case and admitted in court that his claims that the two women committed fraud during the counting of ballots in the 2020 presidential election were false. The only issue in the trial, which began on Monday, was the amount of damages Giuliani must pay to plaintiffs Ruby Freeman and her daughter Wandrea Moss.
Moss and her mother were targeted by Trump supporters after Giuliani’s allegations because they appeared in a video that was circulated. The jury now awarded the two women a significantly higher sum than they had demanded. They sued for up to $43 million.
Moss: “That turned my life upside down”
After Trump’s election defeat against Democrat Joe Biden in November 2020, Giuliani was a central figure in the elected incumbent’s attempts to overturn the outcome of the election and thus stay in office. The lawyer made allegations of election fraud that have often been refuted.
Moss later testified as a witness before the parliamentary committee investigating the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021. She said she was the target of “hateful” and “racist” threats of violence after false election fraud allegations were made against her. “That turned my life upside down.”
Giuliani no longer works for Trump
Giuliani now has a number of legal problems. He was charged with Trump in a criminal case in Atlanta on allegations of election manipulation. Giuliani was once highly respected as mayor of New York; after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, he was even referred to as “America’s mayor.”
He later became Trump’s loyal companion. He now no longer works for the ex-president.