Rudy Giuliani's son is trying to stop two Georgia election workers who won a $148 million defamation judgment against his father from taking the elder Giuliani's New York Yankees World Series rings, saying in new court filings that he is actually the rightful owner because they were gifted to him years ago.
Andrew Giuliani, who was unsuccessful in a 2022 Republican bid for New York governor, said in papers filed Tuesday in federal court in Manhattan that his father gave him four World Series rings as a gift in 2018. He added that he and his father agreed that the elder Giuliani would temporarily keep one of the rings to wear around.
Rudy Giuliani received the rings — one for each of the Yankees' championships in 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2000 — during his terms as mayor of New York City in those years. In filings in a failed bankruptcy attempt this year, Rudy Giuliani listed three World Series rings as personal property as part of an estimated $30,000 jewelry collection that also includes expensive watches.
The Georgia election workers, Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, won the $148 million defamation judgment over Rudy Giuliani's false ballot fraud claims against them related to the 2020 presidential election. Freeman and Moss said Giuliani pushed Donald Trump’s lies about the election being stolen, which led to death threats that made them fear for their lives.
In an effort to collect on the judgment, Freeman and Moss are now asking a federal judge in New York to award them Rudy Giuliani's Manhattan apartment, World Series rings and other property. Andrew Giuliani's new court filings asked that he be allowed to intervene in that case to make his claim on the rings, and a judge approved the request Wednesday.
Rudy Giuliani, meanwhile, is appealing the $148 million award in a federal appeals court, citing free speech rights and arguing that Freeman and Moss didn't prove that he made the ballot fraud claims with “actual malice” — a requirement to win defamation cases. He is asking the New York judge to delay awarding his property to Freeman and Moss until after the appeal is decided.
Lawyers for Rudy Giuliani and Freeman and Moss declined to comment Wednesday on Andrew Giuliani's claims on the World Series rings. A lawyer for Andrew Giuliani did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
In his filings, Andrew Giuliani says his father gave him the rings in May 2018 after a 74th birthday celebration for the elder Giuliani in New York.
“He said to me, in substance and in part, ‘I told you when I got these that they would be yours someday, and I want to give them to you now,’” the filings said. “As a child and young adult, I had spent many nights with my father watching Yankees games and bonding over our love for the team, and I was excited about receiving the rings.”
Andrew Giuliani also submitted to the court a photo of him and his wife holding cases containing two of the rings while posing with his father on the night he said he received them as gifts. He says the rings shouldn't be given to Freeman and Moss because they are his property.
Rudy Giuliani's assets — which also include a Palm Beach, Florida, condo, autographed Reggie Jackson and Yankee Stadium pictures, and a signed Joe DiMaggio shirt — are estimated to be worth somewhere north of $10 million if sold off to pay Freeman and Moss.
Lawyers for Freeman and Moss alleged in court filings seeking possession of the property that Rudy Giuliani has tried to thwart their attempts to collect on the judgment, including through legal actions including the bankruptcy case that was dismissed by a judge.
“Mr. Giuliani has spent years evading accountability for his actions,” they said. “Now that Mr. Giuliani’s bankruptcy case has been dismissed, Plaintiffs are finally in a position to receive a measure of compensation by enforcing their judgment.”
A federal judge in Manhattan has scheduled an Oct. 17 hearing on the motion by Freeman and Moss seeking possession of Rudy Giuliani's assets.
Dave Collins, The Associated Press
