Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani is asking for donations while claiming he cannot buy food amid his ongoing financial difficulties.
Giuliani shared a link to his GiveSendGo fundraising page and said that his “measly” checking account had been seized by a law firm and the judge involved in his defamation suit filed by 2020 Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Wandrea “Shaye” Moss.
In December 2023, Giuliani was ordered to pay the mother and daughter $148 million in damages after they became victims of harassment and death threats when he and Donald Trump spread voter fraud claims about the pair. Giuliani has so far failed to pay any of the money he owes Freeman and Moss.
Judge Lewis J. Liman of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ordered Giuliani in late October to transfer most of his assets, including a New York apartment, luxury cars, watches, and sports memorabilia, to receivership to help recover the outstanding debt. Liman criticized Giuliani in a Thursday court hearing for missing the October 29 deadline to hand over the assets.
“Wilkie Farr Law Firm and Judge Liman are trying to inhibit me from making a living,” Giuliani posted on X, formerly Twitter. “They seized my measly checking account so I can’t buy food. Help me fight.”
Newsweek has contacted the Willkie Farr & Gallagher law firm, which represented Freeman and Moss, and a spokesperson for Giuliani for comment via email.
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Giuliani denied defaming Freeman and Moss following Thursday’s court appearance and claimed he was the victim of political persecution. “There isn’t a person who doesn’t know the judgment is ridiculous,” he said.
Giuliani’s post resulted in a slew of donations to his fundraising page, which has so far raised more than $106,000.
“America’s Mayor, Rudy Giuliani, has been persecuted to the highest level through lawfare due to his support of President Donald Trump,” the campaign’s description reads. “Therefore, we are raising funds to go directly to his legal defense.”
One person who donated $500 to the fund wrote on the GiveSendGo site: “You are the best leader my beloved city ever had, and you are a magnificent patriot. God bless you.”
Giuliani appeared at a polling station in Palm Beach, Florida, on November 5, in the passenger seat of a 1980s Mercedes car that the court had ordered him to surrender.
Ted Goodman, Giuliani’s spokesperson, said in a statement to The Hill that the former New York City mayor “has made available his property and possessions as ordered” and that he had put a “few items” into storage over the past year.
“Opposing counsel, acting either negligently or deliberately in a deceptive manner, are simply attempting to further bully and intimidate Mayor Giuliani until he is rendered penniless and homeless,” Goodman said.
Attorney Aaron Nathan recently told Liman that Giuliani stripped his $5-million Manhattan apartment weeks ago, in defiance of a court order to hand over his assets.
“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,” Nathan wrote in a submission to Liman on November 4.