#ruby freeman

[sbrown82]

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Sam Levine at The Guardian:

Rudy Giuliani must give control of his New York City apartment, a 1980s Mercedes-Benz once owned by Lauren Bacall, several luxury watches and many other assets to two Georgia election workers he defamed.

Lewis Liman, a US district judge in New York, appointed Ruby Freeman and her daughter Shaye Moss as recipients of the property and gave the former New York mayor and Trump confidante seven days to turn over the assets. A jury ruled that Giuliani owes them around $150m for spreading lies about them after the 2020 election though Giuliani is appealing the ruling. Liman authorized the two women to immediately begin selling the assets. “The road to justice for Ruby and Shaye has been long, but they have never wavered,” said Aaron Nathan, a lawyer representing Freeman and Moss. “Last December, a jury delivered a powerful verdict in their favor, and we’re proud that today’s ruling makes that verdict a reality.” “We are proud that our clients will finally begin to receive some of the compensation to which they are entitled for Giuliani’s actions,” said Nathan. “This outcome should send a powerful message that there is a price to pay for those who choose to intentionally spread disinformation.”

A spokesperson for Giuliani did not immediately return a request for comment. In addition to his apartment on the Upper East Side Giuliani was also ordered to turn over several items of Yankees memorabilia and around two dozen watches. The two women are also entitled to fees the Trump campaign owes Giuliani for his legal work in 2020. Giuliani first listed the three-bedroom apartment for $6.5m in 2023, but had cut the price to a little more than $5.1m this fall. Liman did not order Giuliani to turn over a separate Palm Beach condominium, for now, amid an ongoing legal dispute there. Liman instead entered an order barring Giuliani from selling the condo while that dispute is ongoing. After losing the defamation case last fall, Giuliani declared bankruptcy to try and avoid paying Freeman and Moss the money they were owed. A judge dismissed that bankruptcy case earlier this year.

After the 2020 election, Giuliani amplified a misleading video and falsely accused Freeman and Moss of illegal activity while counting ballots in Atlanta on election night in 2020. He continued to do so even after Georgia election officials said the video showed both women doing their jobs with no issue. They have also been formally cleared by investigators of any wrongdoing. The video and lie about the two women became central to Donald Trump’s effort to overturn the election results in Georgia. The ex-president mentioned Freeman by name on a phone call in 2021 with Georgia secretary of state Brad Raffensperger, asking her to overturn the vote.

Election denier Rudy Giuliani forced to surrender his NYC apartment, his 1980s Mercedes-Benz, and several other assets to Ruby Freeman and Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, the two Georgia election workers he defamed in 2020.

See Also:

Daily Kos: Judge says Giuliani must give election workers his penthouse—and a Benz

[reasoningdaily]

They Prevailed

yes they did

[saywhat-politics]

Rudy Giuliani will keep his apartments and his World Series rings in exchange for unspecified "compensation" to two election workers and a promise not to further defame them.

The former New York City mayor had been a no-show to his non-jury civil trial that was set to begin Thursday in Manhattan federal court. The proceedings had been adjourned until Tuesday.

"All parties reached a resolution," Giuliani’s attorney, Joseph Cammarata, said outside court.

He read a statement from Giuliani that said the settlement does not include an admission of guilt.

Giuliani’s statement said he gets to keep his New York co-op and Florida condominium along with all his personal belongings. He has agreed not to talk about Freeman and Moss in a defamatory way.

Andrew Giuliani said he will retain possession of the World Series rings, which he has said his father gifted to him.

Giuliani was scheduled to be the first witness in the case, which was to decide whether he must turn over his Florida condo to the two Georgia election workers.

[odinsblog]

“Read the entire decision here. Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss are heroes for our democracy and didn’t deserve any of their treatment. This is great news. Take that, Rudy.”

[democracyunderground]

$150 MILLION

VICTORY AGAINST A TRAITOR

trump's treason team loses again, big time.

racists, hate crimes. lock them all up. now

[porterdavis]

What's a guy have to do to get his ass thrown in jail for taunting a judge?

[arinzeture]

A federal judge has determined that Rudy Giuliani has lost a defamation lawsuit from two Georgia election workers against him after he failed to provide information sought in subpoenas.

[yemme]

Go after everyone that put your entire families life in danger. Thank you for your service and I hope no one has to endure what you guys had to ever again.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Sam Levine at The Guardian:

A judge dismissed a bankruptcy case filed by the Gateway Pundit on Wednesday, saying the far-right outlet did not file the case in good faith. The ruling from US bankruptcy judge Mindy Mora in the southern district of Florida comes as the outlet faces significant defamation cases from two Georgia election workers and a former Dominion Voting Systems employee who say the site spread false claims about them after the 2020 election.

Calling the site’s assets “eye-catching”, Mora noted that they were 22 times the size of its liabilities. The company reported nearly $3.1m in revenue in 2023. “TGP remains both balance sheet and cash flow solvent. There is no present financial distress, no looming foreclosure sale, no prospect of a market crash. There is only the State Court Litigation in which TGP must defend itself. That’s not a basis for bankruptcy relief; it’s the justice system in operation,” Mora wrote. The proceedings had also revealed that the company may have been operating in Florida for three years without a proper business license and could owe back taxes to the state, Mora wrote in her 28-page ruling. The Gateway Pundit declared bankruptcy on 24 April saying it was doing so as a litigation strategy in the defamation cases filed against it. Filing for bankruptcy pauses all civil proceedings against a business. The bankruptcy dismissal means the defamation cases can probably continue.

The bankruptcy filing came as lawyers representing Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, the two election workers, were completing discovery in their defamation case and had informed the company it intended to take depositions of the Gateway Pundit founder Jim Hoft and his twin brother, Joe Hoft, who is a contributor. “This is a common tool for reorganization and to consolidate litigation when attacks are coming from all sides. It allows TGP to consolidate this lawfare in one court for ultimate resolution,” Jim Hoft wrote at the time. “While we greatly appreciate the Judge’s careful consideration of the facts of this case, we believe some of the findings are not supported by the existing law or underlying circumstances presented at the hearing or otherwise contained within the record. The Debtor continues to consider its options and will move forward in its legal and business path,” Bart Houston, a lawyer representing the company, said in a statement.

The defamation cases are being closely watched because they are testing whether US libel law can be an effective tool to combat misinformation. The collateral bankruptcy cases are seen as an effort to try to avoid accountability for lying. A judge earlier this month also dismissed a bankruptcy case filed by Rudy Giuliani, who was ordered to pay the two Georgia election workers $148.1m for defaming them last year. After the 2020 election, the Gateway Pundit published several articles falsely saying that Ruby Freeman and her daughter Shaye Moss, both election workers in Fulton county, Georgia, were involved in a plot to scan ballots multiple times and steal the election. The claims were immediately debunked and both women have been cleared of any wrongdoing. The false claims were amplified by Giuliani and other Trump allies and became central to their efforts to overturn the election results. When Trump called Georgia’s top election official and asked him “to find 11,780 votes”, he mentioned Freeman by name.

Judge Mindy Mora dismissed far-right propaganda outlet The Gateway Pundit’s bankruptcy filing on Wednesday because the company filed it for bad faith reasons.

[tomorrowusa]

EXCELLENT!

Congrats to Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss on the settlement. ❤️ Make him pay every cent that he owes you.

A Washington DC jury has ordered Rudy Giuliani to pay $148.1mtotwo Atlanta election workers after he spread lies about them, one of the most significant verdicts to date seeking accountability for those who attempted to overturn the 2020 election. The verdict follows a four-day trial in which Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, her daughter, gave haunting details about the harassment and threats they faced after Giuliani falsely accused them of trying to steal the election in Georgia. The women, who are Black, described how they fled, are afraid to give their names in public, and still suffer severe emotional distress today. Their lawyers asked the jury to award them each at least $24m in damages. Giuliani’s attorney said earlier this week that awarding the plaintiffs their sought damages would be a “death penalty” and would be "the end of Mr Giuliani”. The damages included nearly $16.2m and $17m in compensatory damages for Freeman and Moss respectively. It also included $20m to each woman for intentional infliction of emotional distress. The jury also awarded an additional $75m in punitive damages. Giuliani also owes approximately an additional $275,000 in legal fees.

If Giuliani owes $148.1 million because of lies he's spread about two election workers, can you imagine how much Trump would owe for his nonstop dishonesty? I was thinking: maybe in the range of the GDP of Thailand.

The case is the latest in a series of cases in which plaintiffs have used defamation law to push back on lies spread about them since the 2020 election. The voting equipment vendor Dominion settled with Fox for $787m earlier this year in a defamation case. Freeman and Moss also have a pending lawsuit against the Gateway Pundit, a far-right news outlet. Last year, they also settled with One America News, another far-right outlet. Civil rights groups are turning to defamation law as a new tool to ward off misinformation. The lies about both women were a cornerstone of efforts by Giuliani and Trump to try to overturn the election results in Georgia. On 3 December 2020, Giuliani tweeted a selectively edited video that he claimed showed Freeman and Moss wheeling suitcases full of ballots out from under a table after counting had concluded for the night. The accusation was quickly debunked by Georgia officials, but Giuliani continued to spread the lie.

Trumpsters live in an alternative universe where they imagine that whatever comes out of their mouths is instant reality. If anything, it's the direct opposite.

[reasoningdaily]

Georgia election workers settle defamation lawsuit against conservative website - ABC News

Georgia election workers settle defamation lawsuit against conservative website

Two Georgia election workers have reached a settlement in their defamation lawsuit against a Missouri-based website that falsely accused them of fraud in the 2020 presidential election

ByJEFF AMY Associated Press

October 11, 2024, 1:57 PM

ATLANTA -- Two Georgia election workers have reached a settlement in their defamation lawsuit against a Missouri-based conservative website that falsely accused them of fraud in the 2020 presidential election, according to a court filing earlier this week.

The lawsuit against The Gateway Pundit, its owner Jim Hoft and his brother Joe Hoft “has been resolved to the mutual satisfaction of the parties through a fair and reasonable settlement,” lawyers for Ruby Freeman and Wandrea “Shaye” Moss said Friday.

Monday's filing in St. Louis City Circuit Court didn't give any terms of the settlement, but said actions under the agreement are supposed to be completed by March 29. Both sides asked a judge to postpone the case until then, when they expect to request a dismissal.

Lawyers for Hoft did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Nearly 70 articles cited as defamatory in the lawsuit were no longer available Friday on The Gateway Pundit website, The Associated Press found.

The company that owns The Gateway Pundit filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, but a judge dismissed the case in July, finding the company was solvent and had filed the suit in bad faith in an effort to frustrate the lawsuit by Freeman and Moss.

Freeman and Moss, who were Fulton County election workers, sued over The Gateway Pundit's repeated claims that the mother-and-daughter pair introduced suitcases of illegal ballots while working as ballot counters at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta in November 2020.

Freeman and Moss also sued others, including including former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and One America News Network, saying they pushed Donald Trump’s lies about the election being stolen, which led to death threats that made them fear for their lives.

Freeman and Moss are trying to collect a $148 million defamation judgment they won against Giuliani for his false ballot fraud claims.

OAN settled with Freeman and Moss in 2022. It posted a video saying state officials “have concluded that there was no widespread voter fraud by election workers who counted ballots at the State Farm Arena in November 2020. The results of this investigation indicate that Ruby Freeman and Wandrea ‘Shaye’ Moss did not engage in ballot fraud or criminal misconduct while working at State Farm Arena on election night.”

Freeman and Moss were dragged into the spotlight on Dec. 3, 2020, when a representative from Trump’s legal team, Jacki Pick, showed a Georgia Senate committee surveillance video from the room where ballots were counted. Pick said Republican observers were asked to leave and that once they were gone, election workers counted hidden, fraudulent ballots.

Pick didn't name the election workers “but said ‘one of them had the name Ruby across her shirt somewhere,’” the lawsuit said. Later that day, The Gateway Pundit was the first outlet to publish Freeman’s full name, and in a subsequent story also identified Moss, the lawsuit said.

The allegation that “suitcases” of ballots were pulled from under tables away from the eyes of observers was almost immediately debunked. But the Gateway Pundit and the Hofts perpetuated the narrative, publishing and promoting stories after they were aware claims had been disproven, the lawsuit said.

In a phone call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Jan. 2, Trump pressed the Republican official to “find” votes for him and mentioned Freeman by name, calling her “a vote scammer, a professional vote scammer and hustler.”

Freeman was a temporary election worker in 2020. Moss has worked for the Fulton County elections department since 2012 and supervised the absentee ballot operation.

As the allegations spread, Freeman received emails, text messages and threatening phone calls, and strangers showed up at her house, the lawsuit said. The FBI concluded on Jan. 6, 2021, that she wasn't safe at home, and she relocated for two months. She abandoned her business selling clothing.

Moss’ teenage son was bombarded with threatening messages after harassers found her old phone number, which he was using, the lawsuit said. Because she previously lived with her grandmother, the lawsuit said, strangers showed up at her grandmother’s house at least twice and tried to enter to make a “citizen’s arrest.”

[higherentity]