Combatant Rudy Giuliani walked into a New York City courtroom on Thursday to explain to a federal judge why he hadn’t surrendered his valuables as part of a $148 million settlement, saying a civil suit to take his most valuable assets was like “political persecution.” (137 million Euro) defamation verdict.

Judge Lewis Liman ordered the former New York mayor to report to the court after lawyers for two former Georgia election workers who obtained the ruling visited Mr. Giuliani’s Manhattan apartment last week and discovered that it had been vacated weeks earlier.

The judge had given until October 29 for Trump, a long-time ally of US President-elect Donald Trump, to hand over most of his assets to lawyers on behalf of Ruby Freeman and her daughter Wandrea “Shaye” Moss.

His belongings include a $5 million Upper East Side apartment, a 1980 Mercedes once owned by movie star Lauren Bacall, a shirt signed by New York Yankees legend Joe DiMaggio, dozens of luxury watches and other valuables.

When he arrived in Manhattan federal court, Mr. Giuliani told reporters he was not standing in the way of the court’s orders. “If they have the right, any property they want is available,” he said.

“The law now says they have no right to most of these. For example, they want my grandfather’s 150-year-old watch. This is a bit of an heirloom. You usually can’t get these unless you’re involved in political persecution. In fact, my presence here today is like political persecution.”

During the court hearing, which lasted more than an hour, a lawyer for Ms. Freeman and Ms. Moss and a lawyer for Mr. Giuliani argued over whether he had gone out of his way to transfer assets.

Judge Liman ordered Mr. Giuliani to return the Mercedes by Monday.

Judge Liman had originally planned a telephone conference on the situation, but after learning of the visit to the former mayor’s apartment, he changed it to a hearing that Mr. Giuliani was required to attend in Manhattan federal court.

Aaron Nathan, the election workers’ attorney, wrote in a letter to Judge Liman that the residence was already “substantially vacant” when his clients’ representatives visited a moving company representative to assess the transportation and storage needs of the property where Mr. Giuliani is located. He gave the order to surrender.

He said the group was told that most of the belongings in the apartment, including artwork, sports memorabilia and other valuables, had been moved about four weeks ago and some had been placed in storage.

At the hearing, Mr Nathan complained that his efforts to acquire the assets were met with “delay and then evasion”.

Mr. Giuliani at one point spoke directly to the judge, saying he had been “treated rudely” by those trying to gain control of his assets.

They have so far unsuccessfully argued that Mr. Giuliani should not be forced to surrender his belongings while he appeals the decision.

Judge Liman also rejected a request from Mr. Giuliani’s legal team that Thursday’s hearing be postponed until next week or held by telephone as originally planned.

A spokesman for Mr. Giuliani dismissed the legal wrangling as an intimidation tactic.

“Opposing attorneys, acting negligently or deliberately deceptively, seek to further bully and intimidate Mayor Giuliani until he is left penniless and homeless,” spokesman Ted Goodman said in a statement earlier this week.

Mr. Giuliani was found liable for defamation for falsely accusing Ms. Freeman and Ms. Moss of ballot fraud for pushing Donald Trump’s baseless claims of election fraud during the 2020 election campaign.

The women said they faced death threats after Mr. Giuliani accused them of sneaking ballots into suitcases, counting ballots multiple times and tampering with voting machines. – Access point