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The two election workers Ruby Freeman (front) and Shaye Moss (2nd from left) speak to reporters after the million dollar verdict in December

Photo: Jim Lo Scalzo / EPA

A few weeks ago, a jury sentenced New York's former mayor Rudy Giuliani to a $148 million fine.

The court found it proven that he had spread lies about two election workers.

But before they could claim even part of the millions in damages, the 79-year-old declared bankruptcy.

Now the two women are accusing him of exploiting the bankruptcy proceedings to avoid his fine.

Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss are filing complaints against Giuliani, court documents from Thursday show.

The primary purpose of the written objection is to prevent Giuliani from receiving judicial permission to appeal his conviction.

Giuliani appears this Friday before the court responsible for his bankruptcy proceedings to request exactly this.

Lawyers call tactics a “sword to eviscerate their rights”

The two women argue against the appeal for several reasons.

One thing is already known: a few days after the million dollar verdict, the two women sued Giuliani again because he continued to spread the alleged lies about them.

In the current document they now also accuse him of using and exploiting the insolvency proceedings strategically.

The process gives the insolvent party time to organize finances and protection from repayments.

Giuliani's actions are "an incorrect, inadmissible legal tactic from an actor who has repeatedly exploited the legal system with malicious intent," write the women's lawyers.

The declaration of bankruptcy immediately after the verdict was "a shield to keep creditors away" and "a sword to gut their rights."

Freeman and Moss, who are mother and daughter, were poll workers in the US state of Georgia in the 2020 presidential election. Giuliani, an ally of former President Donald Trump, falsely claimed after the election that aides like them threw away ballots for Trump and forged papers for would have counted the Democrat Joe Biden.

Moss and her mother were targeted by Trump supporters.

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