Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani was sentenced this Friday to pay 148 million dollars for defamation against two Georgia election workers whom he accused of fraud in the 2020 presidential election. Giuliani, who was a lawyer for former United States President Donald Trump (2017-2021), accused Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Shaye Moss, without evidence of having manipulated the results in Georgia, where Democrat Joe Biden won. Trump by a narrow margin.

A federal judge in Washington determined in August that Giuliani is guilty of having defamed the two women and, after two days of deliberations, a popular jury determined this Friday that he must pay $148 million to victims for damages. According to the local press, Giuliani faces numerous financial problems and is still has not deposited the $200,000 fine which was imposed on him in August for this same case. “I don’t regret anything,” the Republican politician said as he left the courthouse, where he repeated his conspiracy theory that the 2020 elections were manipulated before the press.

For her part, Shaye Moss has explained to journalists that Giuliani’s lies changed her life and that of her mother, and that the last two years have been “devastating” for both. In 2020, Guliani and the Trump campaign released a video of Freeman and Moss at a Georgia polling station and falsely claimed that the women were taking out suitcases full of votes. During the trial, Giuliani’s defense admitted that his client made a mistake, but claimed that the former mayor is actually “a good man” and that the amount the two women were asking for was too high.

The Republican did not testify at the trial because his lawyers recommended that he do so. At last Wednesday’s hearing, Ruby Freeman gave emotional testimony about the threats and racist insults that she and her daughter, both African American, have suffered since the presidential elections. “Giuliani ruined my life,” declared the woman, who still today says she is “afraid” to say her name in public places. The former mayor has defended that his conduct is protected by freedom of expression.

Donald Trump is accused in two judicial proceedings, one in a federal court in Washington and another in a state court in Georgia, for his attempts to reverse the result of the 2020 elections, in which he lost against Biden. Giuliani is charged in the Georgia case as Trump’s accomplice in the criminal plot. According to the local press, the former mayor had unsuccessfully asked Trump for money to be able to cover the costs. of their legal cases