A federal judge on Friday hit Rudy Giuliani with sanctions for failing to search for and provide records in a defamation lawsuit Georgia election workers filed against him for accusing them of ballot fraud in the 2020 presidential election, Reuters reports.
Donald Trump’s former lawyer was ordered to pay unspecified attorney fees and other legal costs associated with efforts to compel Giuliani to search for the documents, the report said.
U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell had previously given the former New York City mayor until June 30 to turn over the records.
Howell determined that Giuliani had “arbitrarily limited” his records search of a database with messages and documents before federal authorities seized his electronic devices in April 2021, and that his manual search for messages after that were “imprecise.”
“We are pleased with the court’s Order, and look forward to our clients having their day in court," Michael Gottlieb, a lawyer for the election workers, said in a statement.
Attorneys representing former Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Wandrea (Shaye) Moss in April requested that Howell sanction Giuliani over allegations he failed to provide the records.
Giuliani’s lawyers said it would have cost their client more than $320,000 to access the database with the documents before his devices were seized.
Freeman and Moss sued Giuliani and the right-wing outlet One America News (OAN) in 2021 over allegations they linked Moss and Freeman to a vote-rigging conspiracy.
Giuliani has previously denied the claims and OAN last year settled the lawsuit for an undisclosed sum in an agreement that has not yet been made public.
